CUP-TIE still very much on - and that didn't necessarily look to be the case with five heats to go of this first leg tie.
At that stage, the Buildbase Bees trailed by a 16-point margin and the meeting was following the pattern of so many at Monmore Green during Wolverhampton's now 40-match winning run at home: huge majority of race winners to the home side, and a lack of last places from the hosts as well.
But as if to show how important it is to avoid those fourth places, Wolves riders improbably filled those spots in each of the last five heats, and although Bees only provided two of the five race winners through Heats 11-15, by the close of play for the first leg they had halved the deficit from 16 to eight points, which more than sets things up for the second leg next month.
The overall scoring of the Wolverhampton side meant they shouldn't really have missed shoulder injury victim Nicolai Klindt - it was just that his rider replacement rides didn't work out for them, with the result that only Adam Skornicki in Heat 12 gained any significant points at all from his extra outing. It was rather like Coventry's own situation in 2005 when they had six firing riders, but whenever one of them was called upon to take a rider replacement ride for Andreas Jonsson, it went wrong.
It would be stretching a point at this stage of 2010 to suggest that Bees had seven, or even six, firing riders but at least there was a good battling spirit during those closing stages and a determination that Wolves wouldn't have things their own way throughout the contest.
So often the Monmore men have launched into a 5-1 opening in Heat 1, be it Fredrik Lindgren and Klindt in 2009, or Lindgren and Ty Proctor as it is in 2010. It happened again on this occasion, even though the best gate of all was made by Lewis Bridger - but Proctor shot through on the exit of turn two, and as the two continued to dispute the lead around bends three and four, Lindgren saw his chance to slice through, and it was job done from the home duo.
Heat 2 produced a good start and a confidence-boosting ride from Josh Auty, who made it from gate one and held a tight line throughout to fend off Ludvig Lindgren, whilst Przemyslaw Pawlicki embarked upon another steep learning curve at the back behind Matthew Wethers. The third race was also shared with Skornicki establishing himself at the front after a tight early battle with Edward Kennett, and he then had to hold off a thrusting Ben Barker later in the race with Proctor's challenge evaporating with mechanical trouble.
But after Coventry No.1 Krzysztof Kasprzak had been on the receiving end of that Heat 1 5-1, it was a similar fate which befell Chris Harris in Heat 4 as he was left in the wrong place from the outside gate, Wolves skipper Tai Woffinden was away and gone, and Ludvig Lindgren defended second place superbly against everything that Harris could throw at him.
Eight points down after four races, the situation did not look promising, but Bees did appear to be gaining something of a foothold by sharing the next two heats. Kasprzak did manage to pass the younger Lindgren at the end of lap one in Heat 5 - the rider replacement outing again scoring zero - with Skornicki up-front again, although the more significant action actually took place after the race when one of the Pole's trademark donut celebrations ended with him coming to grief on the main straight and sustaining a knee injury.
The 3-3 in Heat 6 saw Harris ride a strong first two turns to get himself above Fredrik Lindgren and go clear to inflict a rare Monmore defeat on the Wolves No.1 - but respite was brief for the Bees, who conceded another six-point swing across the next two races.
First Barker strongly challenged Woffinden around the first two turns of Heat 7 but ended up out of shape and at the back behind Wethers, with Kennett splitting the Wolves pairing - and if that was a blow, Heat 8 was a complete disaster with the Bees being outgated, Bridger's attempt to pass on the outside of turns three and four ending with him in the fence, and Pawlicki then being blocked completely by some teamriding by Proctor and Ludvig Lindgren which, whilst not totally textbook, was very effective.
It was tactical ride time in Heat 9 although as luck would have it, Bees were playing it against two unbeaten Wolves riders, and Harris had to be content with second place and four points, ahead of Woffinden but behind Skornicki who was at this stage showing no discomfort from his knee problem.
Heat 10 briefly looked promising with both Barker and Kennett making good starts, but the picture changed completely off turn two as Fredrik Lindgren shot through the middle, whilst Proctor took advantage of an open door to Karlsson's Corridor and made his way through for what looked like being a Wolves 5-1 until Barker mounted something of a recovery and regained second spot from the Australian.
It was now 39-23 for Wolves and Bees required urgent action, but again they had to be content with four points from a tactical ride (albeit a 5-3 outcome) in Heat 11 as, despite a strong challenge from the double-points Kasprzak which took him briefly into the lead at the start of the second lap, Woffinden regained the winning habit and made his way back around the outside to keep Wolves in full control.
Heat 12 was shared with Skornicki gating and winning again, holding off Barker as Auty again rode tidily to keep Ludvig Lindgren at bay, so Bees went into the interval 45-31 down - and looking at the racecard for what was to follow, it looked odds-on that Wolves would be extending their advantage in the last three races.
What actually happened, though, was a more than pleasant surprise, first with a storming gate by Kasprzak to put himself at the front of Heat 13 as Harris gained speed up the back straight to go ahead of Woffinden for third place. Kasprzak held off a late Lindgren surge for a welcome victory, and with the gap down to twelve Bees might have thought that even that margin represented something of an escape.
Heat 14 was dramatic, with Skornicki missing out early on and, by now struggling with his knee, pulling out early in the race - whilst to Bees' initial frustration, Wethers benefited from some first bend argy-bargy to put himself up front and seem likely to limit serious damage.
Pawlicki, however, had other ideas, and put his previous races' experience to good use by surging down the inside as they went into lap three, which clearly surprised Wethers, and as the two worked out their next move coming off turn two, Kennett took advantage of Wethers being out of shape and Bees had themselves a more than useful 5-1 to bring the deficit under ten points.
Wolves won the toss for Heat 15, which featured the same line-up as Heat 13, and for a short time it was a repeat performance with Kasprzak up front and Harris moving inside Woffinden off turn two to get the better of his opposite skipper for the third time in their four races. But this time Lindgren was a little closer to Kasprzak from the off, and he duly switched inside the Pole at the end of lap one in a quality move to ensure a shared race.
That was certainly something Bees would have accepted before the heat, the overall result was also one which they could be relatively happy with given Wolves' prolific home record, and although they will still have a job on their hands to go through, they have certainly given themselves a chance.
WOLVERHAMPTON 51 Fredrik Lindgren 2* 2 3 2 3 = 12+1 Ty Proctor 3 R 1* 2* 1 = 7+2 Nicolai Klindt Rider Replacement Adam Skornicki 3 3 3 3 R = 12 Tai Woffinden 3 3 1 3 0 0 = 10 Matt Wethers 1* 1 0 1 = 3+1 Ludvig Lindgren 2 2* 0 3 0 = 7+1
