THE Buildbase Bees can take plenty of credit from their second leg showing at Swindon - but ultimately it was the title favourites who prevailed in a tight semi-final.
The Robins' ten-point lead after Heat 7 at Brandon turned out to be easily the biggest margin between the sides at any stage of the 30 races in the tie, although the eight-point bonus applied afterwards always had Alun Rossiter's men in control.
How different it may have been had the Bees, showing much-improved form when compared to their early-September struggles, even held parity during those early races in the first leg, but as it was they never gave the Robins chance to race away in the manner they have a habit of doing when the sides meet at the Abbey Stadium.
And Swindon manager Alun Rossiter will surely feel he will need an improvement in the Final against Wolverhampton, having seen his big two overshadowed by a magnificent Chris Harris, and had it not been for a super showing from Simon Stead the upset may well have been on.
Harris, who dropped just one point and could well have had a maximum, led the Bees' challenge superbly and there were decent contributions most of the way down the order, with Ben Barker again never far away from the spotlight.
That one dropped point from Harris came in Heat 1, in which he made the first of a series of good starts to lead Leigh Adams down the back straight, but made a slight error on turns three and four to offer Adams a chance down the inside, which the Australian gratefully accepted.
Olly Allen's third place commenced an opening run of 3-3s, with Heat 2 taking three attempts to start after a first-bed fall for Josh Auty and then movement from the same rider. At the third time of asking, both Coventry riders made the start but Jordan Frampton dropped back by the end of the first lap and pulled out with mechanical trouble, whilst Auty held a tidy line to lead Cory Gathercole all the way.
Swindon looked like they could break the deadlock in Heat 3 as Stead moved clear of Edward Kennett, but Barker made his way past Travis McGowan with a burst of outside speed on the second lap to leave the scores at 9-9.
The home side did go in front in the next as Matej Zagar dominated with Mark Lemon third, but parity was quickly restored by fast starts from Harris and Allen in Heat 5, although Stead did manage to split them by going around Allen on turn four to move into second place.
The only 5-1 of the night occurred in Heat 6, and it was rather unfortunate for Rory Schlein that he found himself on the outside of a tight third bend as Adams drove hard on the inside, almost taking his own team-mate Morten Risager too wide, although Adams then cleverly closed Schlein down to ensure the 5-1 with the Bees rider chasing all the way.
But that outcome didn't lead to a barrage of Swindon advantages, with Kennett and Barker packing in behind Zagar in Heat 7 and then Allen convincingly winning Heat 8 as Frampton's night effectively ended with a spill on the first bend.
The Robins were faster-gating in Heat 9 as Bees initially looked set to concede a second 5-1, but Schlein smartly split Stead and McGowan halfway through the race and then mounted a strong challenge on first place, just missing out on the run to the line, whilst Auty was similarly close to McGowan by the flag.
Six points down for the first time, Bees began to haul themselves back thanks to a sensational effort by Barker in Heat 10, trapping on Adams from the outside and then racing clear as the Robins skipper initially got involved with Kennett and Risager. Adams gained two clear laps to chase but Barker held both his line and his nerve for one of the biggest scalps of his career so far.
The first clash of Harris and Zagar went the Coventry skipper's way in Heat 11 although Gathercole picked up a good third place for the Robins by edging out Allen in the early stages and then holding his position.
Barker was out-trapped by McGowan in Heat 12 but took the lead before the riders entered turn three, with Auty's third place ahead of Lemon cutting the gap back to just two points.
At that stage, the Robins were still needing points to make sure of progression as three unlikely 5-1s would have taken the Bees through, and Harris did his utmost in Heat 13 with the perfect race to hold back the threatening Zagar, with Adams always in attendance.
The 3-3 left Swindon needing just a point from Heat 14, but Stead was always good enough to do far more than that, as he took his third win of the night with a fine second-bend move on Kennett, whilst Auty was unlucky to miss out in what did appear a ragged start.
It meant Bees needed a 5-1 from Heat 15 to snatch a draw on the night, with Barker deservedly nominated to race alongside Harris. It was the Bees skipper to the front immediately as he conjured a repeat performance against Zagar and Adams, whilst Barker flirted with the outside at the end of lap two before his typically lively challenge was blocked out.
In 2007 Swindon were the title favourites but Bees came on strong in the closing weeks and got the better of the Robins in all three Finals - this time, the task was just beyond them, but the improved performances are a source of major optimism... and there is still a Knockout Cup to be won over the closing weeks of the season.