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EASTBOURNE EAGLES 40 – SWINDON ROBINS 50 |
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Mon 29 Jun 2009
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| Posted by
Jenni |
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The already slender looking Elite League play off hopes of the Eastbourne Eagles were dealt a further hammer blow in front of the SKY Sports cameras at Arlington stadium on Monday evening.
The already slender looking Elite League play off hopes of the Eastbourne Eagles were dealt a further hammer blow in front of the SKY Sports cameras at Arlington stadium on Monday evening
as title chasers, Swindon Robins, one of the hot favourites for League success came, saw and conquered by a 50-40 margin at the Sussex venue to leapfrog the Wolverhampton Wolves back to the head of the section.
The Eagles had triumphed with a 50-41 score line in the previous Arlington encounter between two teams, another occasion that witnessed the attendance of the SKY Sports team and following on from a wholly disappointing home reverse again league cellar club, the Belle Vue Aces the previous week they were surely hopeful of providing a repeat of their success over the Wiltshire club in order to rekindle their fortunes. However, what Swindon had apparently lacked on that first occasion, they had clearly brought it with them on this occasion and if pushed to pinpoint the missing ingredient, the name Matej Zagar wouldn’t have been too far from the thinking.
The 26 year old Slovenian missed out in his first ride, losing in a thriller against home hero Lukas Dryml but then he roared to two perfect wins, beating Eagles heat leaders Davey Watt and Lewis Bridger in the process in providing perfect back up to Robins C aptain and chief inspiration Leigh Adams. When the pair combined to claim the Robins third 5-1 in heat thirteen, following similar efforts in heats 7 and 8 that had seen them assemble an imposing 28-20 lead at the half way stage, the scores moved to 43-35 in their favour and the match was all but won.
Indeed, the Sussex side had started the brighter, providing the first four race winners, two of them from Dryml as he headed Adams and then Zagar home in heats one and four respectively, but the Robins claimed the first man home in the next six heading into the interval, during which time they had amassed that 8-point advantage, one that stood at 34-26 at the break and indeed one they were never destined to lose.
Dryml kick started the Eagles fightback with a second defeat of Adams in the eleventh and then Bridger combined with Simon Gustafsson, who sparked into life following three pointless early outings for a 5-1 that halved the 8-point deficit to 38-34 in the next giving the supporters some shred of hope as the match moved towards a conclusion.
However the Adams / Zagar master class in heat 13, one that saw both Dryml and Watt trailing in their wake, dispelled those hopes in almost clinical fashion, the Eagles left with a mountain to climb needing two further maximums in the remaining two heats to force a draw.
The first of these seemed a distinct possibility, Gustafsson appearing reborn as he took the chequered flag with some authority while Cameron Woodward buzzed tenaciously around the Robins duo in the hopes of repeating the fantastic ride that had earned him hero status on the previous time that the teams had met, however it was not to be. Travis McGowan and Ryan Fisher, two of the more unsung engineers of the Robins well crafted victory provided a perfect display of team riding to allow the Aussie access past them and with that the visitors had the points in the bag.
Adams closed the show with another win, this time ahead of Bridger and20with Zagar gaining further revenge of Dryml for defeat in his first outing, the resultant 4-2 saw Swindon breach the half century mark, celebration time for them and one that was well deserved but further disappointment for the Eagles.
Scorers :
Eagles : Lewis Bridger 14(6), Lukas Dryml 11(6), Simon Gustafsson 5+1(5), Davey Watt 4(4), Cameron Woodward 3+2(5), Ricky Kling 3(4), Rider Replacement for David Norris – 40
Robins : Leigh Adams 13(5), Travis McGowan 11+2(5), Matej Zagar 11+1(5), Ryan Fisher 8+3 (7), Simon Stead 5+1(5), Paul Hurry 2+1(3), Rider Replacement for Jurica Pavlic – 50
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