POOLE boss Danny Ford sees an ‘opportunity’ to grab a huge win at Oxford.
The Pirates will be without Tobias Thomsen as they travel to face the Cheetahs in front of the BSN cameras tonight.
The all-action Dane crashed on the continent and damaged his foot. Initial fears of a six-week layoff proved premature but it has been diagnosed as a bad sprain.
In his absence Poole call on Plymouth’s former Pirate Joe Thompson with his Gladiators’ team-mate Jacob Hook guesting in place of Oxford’s injured reserve Henry Atkins.
The Cheetahs have won all six of their home fixtures this season including a 45-44 victory over the Pirates in May’s BSN Series clash between the old rivals.
Ford believes that Cowley is currently ‘the hardest place to go to in the Championship’ but feels that his side has the personnel to overturn that early season defeat.
He said: “We always knew it was going to be tough to get a result there but to be leading with two heats to go and not get the victory made it something of a disappointment.
“Zach (Cook) was not a hundred percent that night and is generally better than a paid four return and, apart from Richard Lawson and Tom Brennan, I see opportunities for improvements and we don't need much to get over the line and bank a couple more league points.”
Poole reserve Sam Hagon is back at Oxford just three days after scoring 14 points for Belle Vue Colts in their National Development defeat at the hands of Oxford’s Chargers, his only defeat coming against Jason Garrad.
The Monarch Cheetahs have banged in scores of 55, 54 and 53 in their three Championship fixtures so far this season and also put 54 past Glasgow as they staged an epic comeback against Glasgow in the Knockout Cup.
Big hitters Sam Masters and Scott Nicholls are both averaging well over the nine-point mark at Cowley while Luke Killeen has moved from reserve into the main body of the side on the back of a string of impressive scores, Cameron Heeps also enjoying his best season for some time.
Oxford: Sam Masters, Luke Killeen, Cameron Heeps, Jordan Jenkins, Scott Nicholls, Ashton Boughen, Jacob Hook.
Poole: Richard Lawson, Joe Thompson, Tom Brennan, Zach Cook, Ben Cook, Sam Hagon, Vinnie Foord.
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Words by George Dodds. Images by Taylor Lanning.