DANNY Ford is hopeful Anders Rowe can return to action for Poole Pirates in the coming days.

The 21-year-old has missed the past five meetings after suffering concussion during a crash at Scunthorpe.

He then contracted a virus, which further set him back.

Rowe would not have been fit to ride against Scorpions in the Knockout Cup final second leg had it taken place on Wednesday.

But with it pushed back to Saturday, he could now feature, if he comes through a late fitness test.

Pirates are set to then end their season at Wimborne Road on Wednesday, against Leicester Lions in the delayed Jubilee League final.

Without Rowe, Pirates lost the SGB Championship grand final over two legs against Glasgow Tigers.

Discussing the recent absence of Rowe, Ford told the Daily Echo: "It’s been a bit of a nightmare.

“Obviously the concussion and then he has been diagnosed with a virus, which couldn’t have come at a worse time, to be honest with the season he was having.

“He was then written off for an extra 10 days.

“I think that really killed us in the grand final, not having Anders.

“I don’t think we covered particularly well with rider replacement.

“Anders goes particularly well at Glasgow and his form at Wimborne Road speaks for itself. He is a huge loss.

“And I think out of all the team, he probably would’ve been the one that would’ve been the hardest one to cover for. And so it proved.

“It is one of those things, but hopefully we will see him back before the end of the season.

“The rules are you can’t run a guest for Anders, otherwise we most certainly would’ve for every single meeting.

“It was too much pressure on the reserves and Zach can only take one ride. It didn’t work out for us.”