Workington Comets host the Championship semi-final showdown against the Poole Pirates at Northside tomorrow – chasing a 14-point deficit.
On Wednesday night the Comets went down 52-38 at Wimborne Road when they had to use three guest riders because of injuries to skipper Craig Cook, Tate Zischke and Claus Vissing who won’t be fit for tomorrow’s second leg.
So the Comets have booked one of their former riders from the club’s stay at Derwent Park in Charles Wright, now starring for Redcar Bears and also for Oxford in the Premier League.
He stands in for Cook at number one.
Wright isn’t short of experience at the GT Tyres Arena as his own club Redcar has visited three times this year, and he also made an appearance in the Ben Fund Bonanza at Northside in July.
Covering for Tate Zischke will be Plymouth’s Dan Thompson, who is a rider that has really come of age this year in the Cab Direct Championship and also for Ipswich in the Premiership.
Last week he was the top scorer in the Plymouth side as they lost to the Comets, but on his first visit to the GT Tyres Arena managed to rack up an incredible 15 points. Therefore it was the obvious decision for the promotion to bring him in on Saturday.
Jason Edwards will once again come in for the injured Claus Vissing, who is still unfortunately suffering from his crash at Northside last month. Previous guest bookings have shown Jason can score solid points in the middle order, which is what will be needed as the Comets attempt to claw back those 14 points.
It’s going to be tough against a powerful Poole side whose heat leaders, Richard Lawson and Ben Cook both scoring paid maximums. But the Comets also had many positives to take from the match.
Reserve Paul Starke top scored with 10+1 from reserve, but also looking back at previous results at Poole (61-29 and 59-31) the Comets significantly improved their overall performance, ending the night 14 points down on aggregate.
The Pirates will be coming into the meeting unchanged from their line-up in the first leg on
Comets team boss James Denham said: “We’ve got a big task on Saturday no doubt, but if someone had said before the Wednesday’s meeting that we would lose by 14 points I would have taken that.
“Poole are strong and they’ve shown that everywhere this season, but 14 points is definitely attainable and we are going to throw everything and more at it.
“I don’t need to tell the lads what’s at stake, they know, and they know the job they need to do. I am sure Antti and Troy will score better at Northside than they did at Poole and if Paul continues his form from Wednesday we will have a fighting chance.
“We really need 110% commitment from our guests as well to make this happen.
“But we think we have once again brought in some great cover for our injuries – Charles never gives up whoever he rides for, Dan rode here brilliantly last week for Plymouth and Jason has always been solid for us.”
“I know we are capable and we know we can do it, but we need the support of our fans on Saturday – they will be our eighth rider.”
