POOLE Pirates left it too late to mount a thrilling comeback in Scotland, narrowly losing 46-44 to Glasgow Tigers.
Gary Havelock’s charges had trailed by 10 points, but rallied back to set up a final heat thriller.
However, they could not complete the turnaround, Tigers holding on.
After former Wimborne Road favourite Chris Harris took a tumble heading into bend one of the first heat, all four riders returned for the re-run.
Harris made no mistake at the second attempt, roaring home from the gates to take first, as Anders Rowe split the home riders in second with Lawson trailing Marcin Nowak.
It was a night to forget for Adam Roynon, Pirates’ number seven retiring from all three of the races he started.
His troubles started in the second race, retiring during lap three as Kyle Newman took home three points.
Benjamin Basso’s false start to begin heat three proved inconsequential, the former Pirate combining with Claus Vissing for Glasgow’s first 5-1 of the evening.
Sam Hagon and Tom Brennan quickly supplied the second in race four, Poole’s solitary point coming from Steve Worrall as Roynon packed it in before the heat had ended.
Poole managed their first race win of the night in heat five, Rowe circumnavigating Basso to take third to add to Lawson crossing the line in first.
Worrall picked up the first of two race wins in the subsequent heat, the first-place finish tempered by Tigers Harris and Nowak coming home in second and third respectively.
But heat seven suggested that Pirates had enough to spark a turn in fortunes, Ben Cook crossing the line with Lawson in tow for a first Poole maximum.
Nowak edged past Rowe and Newman in a tight start to race eight, sharing the spoils, before Tigers extended their lead back to eight points with a 5-1 courtesy of Vissing and Basso.
The margin was widened to double digits by the end of heat 10, Ben Cook grabbing second between Harris in first and Nowak in third.
Pirates showed signs of life after the interval, although the exclusion of Brennan after coming off his bike at the start of race 11 certainly helped.
Rowe led teammate Lawson in Pirates’ second 5-1 of the night, before a Basso win in heat 12 was quashed by Newman and Ben Cook in second and third respectively.
Running out of time to find a way back into the meeting, Poole took a maximum haul in heat 13.
Lawson again took a bonus point, trailing teammate Worrall.
Zach Cook contributed his first points of the night in race 14 via first-place, Tigers preserving their now slender lead with Vissing and Hagon in second and third.
That ensured the meeting went to the final heat, Lawson’s second race win of the evening not enough as Basso and Harris kept out Worrall.
Tigers 46: C Harris 10+1, M Nowak 6+1, B Basso 12+1, Vissing 7+1, Brennan 3+1, Coles 3, Hagon 5+2.
Pirates 44: R Lawson 12+3, A Rowe 8, B Cook 7+1, Z Cook 3, S Worrall 8, K Newman 6+1, A Roynon 0.
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