PIRATES’ team manager Neil Middleditch said it was ‘absolutely amazing’ to secure his 30th trophy in stunning fashion.

Poole bounced back from a 12-point defeat in the first leg of the Championship Grand Final to win by 22 points at Wimborne Road against Oxford Cheetahs on Wednesday night.

Speaking to the Daily Echo after the meeting, the veteran team boss said: “We knew it was going to be tough and twelve points, I said it wasn't a mountain, it was a steep hill.

“It was a very steep hill but the boys got stuck straight into it.”

Middleditch said he thought ‘oh no, here we go’ after Richard Lawson was excluded from the very first heat of the second leg but said the Poole riders dug deep from one to seven to wrestle back control and take the victory.

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The Lawson exclusion in heat one was the first in a dramatic start, with each of the first three heats requiring re-runs, with Middleditch expecting this from a Grand Final.

But approaching the conclusion of the meeting, he felt the title was won when Lawson and Tom Brennan secured a 4-2 victory in the 14th, over the dangerous Oxford pair of Scott Nicholls and Sam Masters.

He said: “I thought 13 and 15 were the crucial heats, obviously get Scott and Sam, but we had an answer for them so that was great and then obviously Zach winning heat 14 made it all easy.”