SPEEDWAY: Poole have sprung a major surprise by selecting reigning Elite League champions Wolverhampton as their opponents in the Elite League play-off semi-finals.

The Pirates had previously stated their intention to pick Peterborough should their previous first-choices Lakeside drop out of the top four at the expense of Coventry.

But with Poole losing at Coventry on Thursday and the Hammers taking no points at Swindon, Poole have now elected to face second-finishing Wolves, starting at Monmore Green on Monday - with Coventry and Peterborough now set to do battle at Brandon in the first leg of their tie.

Pirates promoter Matt Ford said: “I was following all the developments tonight from afar and weighed up all the options, and although we would have jumped at the chance of riding at Lakeside I just feel that with the way results have been falling then the option of taking on Wolverhampton could work in our favour.”

Coventry completed a spectacular run into the play-off places with a 53-42 win over league leaders Poole on Thursday. They were rock bottom after starting the season with seven straight league defeats, and they were still second-from bottom on August 9.

Ipswich will feature in the relegation play-off against the winner of a Premier League play-off between the top four finishers in the lower league. The top four is not expected to be known in the Premier League for a couple of weeks.