King's Lynn team boss Dale Allitt vowed 'we'll be back' despite the heartbreak of losing the Premiership title.

King's Lynn team boss Dale Allitt vowed 'we'll be back' despite the heartbreak of losing the Premiership title.

The Tru Plant Stars beat Poole 51-39 at the Adrian Flux Arena last night but agonisingly lost out 92-88 on aggregate.

Despite a fierce battle, they just couldn't dominate the stubborn Pirates to overturn the 16-point deficit from the first leg on Monday night, having earlier finished top of the table

A clearly devastated Allitt said: 'We are obviously gutted. We just couldn't stamp our authority on the second leg.

'It's very hard to swallow having finished top of the league.

'We struggled with Niels-Kristian Iversen and Michael Palm Toft both injured over the last 72 hours. But we'll be back to win it. This will make us even more determined next year.'

It was the perfect start for the Tru Plant stars with Robert Lambert and Erik Riss roaring clear of Chris Harris to immediately reduce the deficit by four points.

But the Pirates showed their mettle straight away. Richie Worrall and Frederik Jakobsen pegged the score back by two. However the Stars had the home fans roaring with another maximum in Heat 3 to go six-up on the night.

Then it was disaster for the home side.

A 4-2 in heat four and then 5-1 from Grajczonek and Harris in heat five levelled the scores up on the night at 15-15 and King's Lynn just couldn't get on top of the Pirates.

However the home fans got the Stars revved up yet again. An unlikely 5-1 saw Ty Proctor, who injured his hand in a heat three fall, raced through the pain barrier for a huge maximum with Simon Lambert in heat 11 and that made the score 41-31 and it was game on yet again, with the overall defiit now in singles figures for the first time.

But Poole once again found another gear. Guest rider Nick Morris and Harris got out in front of Lambert in heat 13 and although the home skipper got into second on the last lap, the Stars' dream was almost over.

Then it was heartbreak as Jakobsen and Nicolai Klindt kept Simon Lambert at the back in heat 14 to wrap it up for the Pirates, with the Dorset outfit sealing their eighth title in 16 years.

The hosts took the final heat 5-1 to reduce the overall deficit to a mere four points - but that was scant consolation for the hosts on an exciting but ultimately frustrating evening.

King's Lynn 51: Erik Riss 13+2, Robert Lambert 13+1, Ty Proctor 10, Thomas Jorgensen 6, Simon Lambert 4+1, Adam Ellis 3, Kyle Howarth 3.

Poole 39: Josh Grajczonek 8, Nick Morris 7, Nicolai Klindt 6+1, Richie Worrall 6, Chris Harris 5+2, Frederik Jakobsen 5+1, Kacper Woryna 2+1.