COVENTRY'S second trip of the season to Arlington turned out to be another point-less experience in more ways than one - and now the priority will be to ensure that this does not turn out to be a season-defining result.
A home draw with Swindon was a blow, an away defeat at Poole was not hugely significant to the big picture, but this result certainly was as the Buildbase Bees ended up taking nothing from a meeting from which they had targeted all four points.
The absences of Krzysztof Kasprzak (Polish fixture) and Chris Harris (injury) were clearly a factor, but Bees still felt they had enough Arlington knowledge within their ranks to be able to extend the Eagles' losing run to six matches.
Put simply, though, it never looked like happening and, most unusually, Coventry fans will have left the stadium without any kind of stand-out positive memory of the meeting - certainly, don't expect it to be given a significant slot in the end-of-season highlights DVD.
If there was one speedway discipline which Bees were totally second best in at Arlington, it was gating - and this was a major problem given the lack of overtaking which took place from either side.
On ten occasions, Eastbourne riders hit the first bend first and second to set up a 5-1 position, and on seven of those they converted that into a maximum heat advantage. There were six passing moves during the meeting, all of which took place between turn four of lap one and the second bend of lap two, and whilst Lewis Bridger in particular spent most of the second half of the match chasing rear wheels, there was no way through as those in front sat on the fast line and made no mistakes.
Aside from the gating issue, Bees' other problem was that several Eastbourne riders chose this of all nights to put in their best displays of the season. Simon Gustafsson, never close to double-figures at home in 2010, racked up a cricket score at reserve, whilst Lukas Dryml - sacked and then re-instated earlier in the season - almost replicated his inspired display of the 'A' fixture at Arlington last year, and Joonas Kylmakorpi surpassed even his current good form with a paid maximum in which he hardly ever looked threatened.
Events of the last occasion the Bees showed up at Arlington with a large ex-Eagles presence are well documented, but there was none of the unpleasantness on this occasion, and indeed the biggest talking point of the pre-meeting parade was the big cheer which greeted news of Matej Zagar's absence due to injury, with the Eagles bringing in Adam Shields as his replacement.
Shields gave Eastbourne their best display by a No.1 at home this season, and after a re-start in Heat 1 when Bees guest Davey Watt came down on the first bend, the Eagles made the perfect start with Watt squeezed between Shields and Dryml, briefly going past Dryml into second place but then being re-passed into lap two for an Eastbourne 5-1.
The home side were away sharply again in Heat 2, this time with Gustafsson and Chris Schramm, but Bees' reserve guest Stuart Robson bundled his way inside Schramm at the start of the second lap in a move which also created space for Richard Sweetman to follow him through for a 3-3.
The arrival of the ex-Eastbourne combination was greatly anticipated by the Coventry fans, and Bridger and stand-in captain Edward Kennett didn't disappoint with a perfect display of side-by-side team-riding which pulled them away from Dryml and Ricky Kling in Heat 3 as Bees levelled the scores.
Bridger, as rider replacement, missed out at the start of Heat 4 and by the time he had got clear in second place the very fast Kylmakorpi was away in the lead, and Eastbourne then went back in front when Watt and Ben Barker were on the receiving end of another 5-1 in Heat 5, this time against Gustafsson and Kling.
Watt was immediately back out as rider replacement in Heat 6 and this time trapped from the inside to head home Shields and Dryml, and Heat 7 was also shared, this time with some passing as Kennett and Bridger recovered from poor starts to go either side of Schramm at the start of lap two, with Kennett subsequently reeling in Kylmakorpi but being unable to pass.
The Eagles began to pull clear with their only 5-1 of the night in Heat 8 thanks to Dryml and Gustafsson, but Bees remained just about in touch going into the interval with a 4-2 in the next with Kennett a tapes-to-flag winner, and Sweetman taking third ahead of Kling having been overhauled by Gustafsson into the second lap.
But that 4-2 was as good as it got as the Shields/Dryml combination collected its second 5-1 in Heat 10 to put the Eagles ten-up, with Bridger and Kennett upstaged, and then with Bees nominating Watt for double-points in the next race, Eastbourne were happy to share it 4-4 with Watt showing some determination to split Kylmakorpi and Gustafsson going into lap two.
The gap, therefore, remained ten points, but the closing stages were painful viewing, Heats 12 and 13 providing a mirror image of each other with Gustafsson and Kling, and then Kylmakorpi and Shields, romping their way to 5-1s to make completely sure of all three points even before Bees had played their second tactical ride - not that they could have contemplated doing it in Heat 13 even allowing for the tannoy suggestions that it was a serious option.
Had they somehow shared Heat 13, then a big advantage in Heat 14 could have put the Eagles under a little pressure for the extra point, but by this stage it had become totally academic even though Kennett was an easy winner of the penultimate race for double-points with Robson in a good third place, briefly holding second over Gustafsson, for a 7-2.
But even though there was little at stake in Heat 15, the Eagles completed an efficient job well done with yet another 5-1 from the gate, Kylmakorpi and Shields heading an ever-pressing Bridger to take the home side to a thoroughly convincing win and off the bottom of the table in the process.
And for the Buildbase Bees, a thoroughly miserable night was thankfully over.
