POOLE boss Neil Middleditch admits it’s “win or bust” for the defending double champions at Scunthorpe.
The Wessex Marine Pirates go to the Eddie Wright Raceway tonight knowing that defeat will leave the destiny of the group out of their hands.
If the Scorpions win and then take victory at Edinburgh tomorrow night, both live on BSN, they will sensationally end Poole’s two-year dominance of the Cab Direct Championship.
Middleditch said: “It’s win or bust for us. This is the biggest pressure we’ve been under since returning to the Championship.
“Yes it is a must-win. We have won there before. The key is going to be everybody scoring points. We’ve got to hit the ground running and attack from the front.
“We had a bit of a banana skin last week at home to Scunthorpe. No excuses, we were out-gated and out-ridden by them.
“They came down with their heads high and all guns blazing. We never underestimate any opposition, whatever position they are in the league.
“Drew Kemp came back to haunt us. Ryan Douglas is just a scoring machine right now.
“We didn’t choose the group because we felt the teams were weaker. But the fact of the matter is that they came down and did a sterling job against us.”
Both sides are at full strength and Scunthorpe boss Rob Godfrey admits it will be a close call.
He said: “I’ve played the meeting out in my head and it is going to be tight, no question about it.
“I’ve played it out that we are going to win, because I don’t want to be thinking about the other possibility!
“It’s going to have to be a whole team effort again with every point counting. We benefited from a great team effort down at Poole, which was phenomenal and really great to see, so I want to see that again although we do need a bit of luck and nothing to go wrong, as everyone does.”
SCUNTHORPE: Ryan Douglas, Connor Mountain, Simon Lambert, Jake Allen, Michael Palm Toft, Drew Kemp, Nathan Ablitt.
POOLE: Richard Lawson, Anders Rowe, Ben Cook, Zach Cook, Steve Worrall, Kyle Newman, Joe Thompson.
Words by Holeshot Media.
Images by Taylor Lanning.