DARCY Ward is planning to attend his Benefit Meeting at Poole this evening.

The Pirates asset, who was loaned to Swindon, was seriously injured in Poland back in August and a high-class field has been put together by his parent club, with teams led by Maciej Janowski and Chris Holder and a packed house expected at Wimborne Road.

Poole promoter Matt Ford said: “The best news there has been is Darcy stating that he is going to attempt to attend the meeting. That will be a massive breakthrough for him if he does and it will undoubtedly add to the emotion of the evening.

“We shed plenty of tears last week when we clinched that third successive league title and dedicated it to Darcy, and I really don't think we will be able to hold the tears back again when Darcy enters the stadium on Wednesday night.

“It is a big moment for him and whilst it means so very much I would like to repeat Darcy's call that we should not ’expect too much of him.’ He will be as emotional as the rest of us and he still has an awful long road to go down as he battles through the injuries he has sustained.”