SGB Premiership Knockout Cup
Quarter-final second leg
Poole Pirates 43, Somerset Rebels 47
Aggregate score: Somerset 99, Poole 81

DESPITE having to sit out the final race of the night after slamming into the first turn air barrier, Jack Holder marked his return to Wimborne Road with an emphatic paid 12 score as the 'Cases' Rebels romped into the semi-final stages of the Knockout Cup, writes Stephen Allen.

Solid contributions throughout the side saw the Rebels fight back after an opening heat 5-1 reversal at the hands of Brady Kurtz and Linus Sundstrom, building up a solid ten-point lead on the night, within five heats.

They went on to win by a score of 47-43, translating into a 99-81 aggregate victory, much to the delight of team manager Garry May.

May said: "We were determined and deserving of that victory, and the fact that we didn’t need to dip into the first-leg lead was something pretty special.

"The lads deserve loads of credit for this result and you can’t single any one of them out; this was a team effort throughout."

The Rebels had effectively sewn up the tie as early as heat nine, when Jake Allen and Jack Holder registered a 4-2, the visitors' fifth heat advantage of the meeting.

The Pirates went into that heat needing six maximums and a 4-2 from the final seven heats to deny the Rebels progress, but with Allen trapping well in the ninth, there was no way back for the home side.

Sundstrom and Kurtz fought back with a 5-1 in heat 10, but Jason Doyle and Richard Lawson restored their side's double-figure advantage, before the hosts recorded a sequence of three-in-a-row race winners to salvage some pride from the affair.

The meeting could have been a draw if the hosts were to pull off a 5-1 in the final heat, but despite Holder crashing out, Doyle dented their hopes with a super quick start to secure the Rebels' second win in as many visits to Dorset.

Scores
Poole (43): B.Kurtz 12+1, K.Woryna 10+2, J.Grajczonek 6, L.Sundstrom 6+2, N.Klindt 5, R.Worrall 4, M.Szczepaniak 0.
Somerset (47): J.Doyle 14, J.Holder 9+3, R.Lawson 7+1, N.Covatti 6+2, J.Allen 6, B.Wilson-Dean 5.