Drury was without Claus Vissing and Theo Pijper against Poole

The Birmingham Brummies suffered a narrow defeat by the Poole Pirates as top-flight speedway returned to Perry Barr after a 28-year absence.

The West Midlands club lost 48-42 on their Elite League debut, staying in contention right through to heat 14.

"I can't fault the lads for effort, I think during the course of the match we didn't really have the rub of the green," boss Graham Drury told BBC WM.

Poole's Jason Doyle helped the visitors with a career-best 12 from five rides.

But Brummies boss Drury was unhappy with a ruling on Krzysztof Kasprzak, adding: "I thought Krzysztof was unfairly excluded in heat one."

The Polish heat leader went into the air fence after being forced wide by Russia's Renat Gafurov going into the very first bend of the match, with referee Jim Lawrence ruling that Kasprzak was to blame for his own demise.

To push a team like Poole like we did, there's a lot of encouraging signs Graham Drury

It was not the only spill for the Brummies, with Ben Barker falling twice, the second time when leading heat nine.

"When Ben fell maybe some of the lads' heads dropped," Drury noted.

"I think that's going to happen with Ben sometimes, maybe using the throttle and not the brain so much.

"But I'm not knocking the lad, he always gives 100-per-cent and once it clicks into gear with him I'm quite convinced he's going to have a very very good season."

While Barker and Czech rider Ales Dryml had modest league debuts for the Brummies, Kasprzak (11 points), Danny King (nine), Daniel Nermark (eight) and reserve Kevin Wolbert (seven) all gave the home supporters cause for optimism.

For Poole, last year's British Grand Prix winner Chris Holder led the scoring with 13 points, with Jason Doyle making the most of his recall with 12 and Swedish teenager Dennis Andersson catching the eye with 10.

And despite the defeat, the Brummies boss Drury was determined to take the positives from the opening night of the league season.

"To push a team like Poole like we did, odds-on favourites to win the league, there's a lot of encouraging signs certainly."

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