COVENTRY have proved more than most over the years that a two-legged tie is only half over after 15 heats - but to say it is advantage Lakeside after the first leg of this Knockout Cup Final would be a masterpiece of understatement.
The Hammers will bring a massive 23-point lead back to Brandon next Friday for the return fixture, and that will leave the Buildbase Bees looking for a Poole Craven Shield-type comeback from last season if they are to right the wrongs of Purfleet on Wednesday.
On a night when Bees needed all seven of their riders to step up to the plate and do, at worst, a containing job, it simply didn't happen - and Lakeside effectively won the meeting twice with Coventry's sole spark coming from an 8-1 in Heat 8.
That should have given them the impetus to keep things close over the final stages of the meeting, and the scoreline of 39-32 after eleven races should not have led to the disastrous conclusion of four 5-1s in four races for the home side.
Twelve heat wins out of fifteen for Lakeside, and twelve last places out of fifteen for the Buildbase Bees tell virtually the story of the meeting, in which all six of the Hammers' regular riders put in the performances expected of them - and more so in some cases, especially reserve Stuart Robson, with the former Coventry rider unbeaten in four of his five outings and sharing in three 5-1s.
With the home top three dropping just two points between then and Adam Shields collecting his first maximum of the season, Bees' scorechart told a wholly different story.
The early stages were scrappy to say the least, with a series of first-bend incidents delaying proceedings. In fact, all of the first four races required re-starts, Heat 1's stoppage occurring when Chris Harris went down on the way into the corner - and although all four riders were invited back, the Bees skipper was mired at the back of the re-run as Lee Richardson rounded Ben Barker on the back straight to enable Lakeside to open up with a 4-2.
Heat 2 saw the disqualification of Frampton, who had made a decent start from gate 2 but lost control mid-bend and went down, taking Robson with him, and in the re-run Josh Auty - in for the injured Ricky Wells - missed the gate but did manage to split the Hammers by rounding guest Tom P Madsen on the second lap.
There was a spectacular incident at the start of Heat 3 with Edward Kennett squeezed out and grounded, with an out-of-shape Kauko Nieminen almost collecting his team-mate and going down rather more heavily. All four back looked the right call, and the re-run initially looked promising for the Bees when Kennett and Olly Allen both gated well, only for Nieminen and Jonas Davidsson to both work their way past Allen within a couple of laps to share the race.
If Bees had misfortune at all in the meeting, it came in Heat 4 when Schlein and Auty shot out of the start only for Robson to go down on the way into the bend. All four back looked a little generous on this occasion, and the unwritten laws of speedway applied again in the re-run when both Lakeside riders made the start, Shields and Robson heading Schlein home to double the lead for eight points.
It got even worse for the Bees in Heat 5 with Harris missing out from the outside and then almost coming to grief on lap three in his attempts to pass Nieminen, as Davidsson raced clear up front.
Tactical options were therefore already being considered, although they were held off for Heat 6 in which Richardson squeezed around Schlein on the back straight to lead whist Frampton lost third place to Kylmakorpi when he lifted exiting turn two on the second lap.
Kennett was therefore the first Coventry rider to take the black-and-white helmet, but going off the outside his tactical ride was neutralised by Shields who made it to the first bend first and quickly covered Kennett's outside run to restrict the Bees man to four points as Allen collected third place ahead of Madsen.
Barker then took the second tactical ride, again off the outside, in Heat 8, and things looked distinctly unpromising from the gate as Kylmakorpi and Robson took the advantage - but Barker showed plenty of determination to round Kylmakorpi on the exit of turn two, and then get the better of Robson on turns three and four, with Auty taking his cue from that to pass Kylmakorpi next time around and then take advantage of Robson appearing to hit trouble at the start of lap three as the Coventry reserve was looking to make an inside pass. Robson fell, and just cleared the track in time for the race to continue - although it would have been awarded as an 8-1 in any case - and that should have been Bees' route back into the meeting.
The next three races were decent damage limitation although Davidsson won Heat 9 ahead of Schlein with plenty of passing for third place before Nieminen established himself ahead of Frampton for a Lakeside 4-2.
The next two races were shared with Kennett producing one of Coventry's rides of the night in Heat 10 as he lifted from the start, almost tangled with Kylmakorpi, and somehow maintained control wide on the outside to lead up the back straight and then hold off the combined challenge of Kylmakorpi and Richardson for what turned out to be the Hammers No.1's only defeat of the night.
Heat 11 saw a routine 3-3 as Shields defeated Barker and Harris, but the next 20 minutes saw the Cup Final go away from the Buildbase Bees as Lakeside got themselves onto a dramatic roll.
Nieminen was electric from the start in Heat 12 but Bees still appeared to have things covered until Robson made a brilliant switch back from the outside to exit turn two on the kerb - and in second place, with Allen and Auty finding no way through.
The scorechart suggested that Heat 13 could well turn out to be a Lakeside 5-1, and the home fans weren't disappointed as Shields and Richardson eased themselves clear in a thoroughly convincing four-lap demonstration.
Heat 14 provided total frustration for the ever-trying Kennett, he and Auty initially foiled by another Robson cut-back only for Kennett to appear to go between the Hammers riders going into lap two - but the homesters found the drive out of turn two to move back into first and second, and from then there was no answer to it.
Unmentioned beforehand, Davidsson's race win completed a remarkable season at Purfleet for the Swede - one in which he has not run a single last place!
By now Lakeside were on a colossal high, 54-35 up, and the final race had a degree of inevitability about it, especially when they won the toss for gate positions. Richardson duly took control from the start whilst Shields wasn't to be denied his maximum and bustled his way past Kennett going into the second lap - and the final chequered flag couldn't come soon enough for Bees and their supporters.
Absolutely a night to forget in terms of both score and performance - but the fact that this was a Cup Final will make it hard to forget, and Bees' final challenge now is to repay the compliment, and more, when the Hammers come to Brandon next Friday.
LAKESIDE 59 Lee Richardson 3 3 2 2* 3 = 13+1 Joonas Kylmakorpi 1 1 1 1* = 4+1 Kauko Nieminen 2 2* 1 3 = 8+1 Jonas Davidsson 1* 3 3 3 = 10+1 Adam Shields 3 3 3 3 2* = 14+1 Tom P Madsen 1 0 0 = 1 Stuart Robson 3 2* F 2* 2* = 9+3
