THIRTEEN points conceded over the last three heats meant the final margin of defeat didn't truly reflect the meeting as the Buildbase Bees were again beaten at Swindon.
But that said, their lack of race winners meant that an away win never looked particularly likely even though there were just four points in it going into those final three races.
Bees have rarely gated well enough to succeed at Blunsdon, and that was the case once again on this occasion on a circuit where it is paramount to make the start and get on the racing line immediately.
And whilst there was plenty of enthusiastic chasing from riders of both sides, and a couple of close finishes, it took until a terrific Heat 13 for anyone to complete a passing move beyond the first lap.
Just like the Bees, Swindon had riders who struggled for form, but they had heavy reserve back-up for their heat-leaders, and that gave them cover throughout the meeting and limited the visitors to just one heat advantage.
Jurica Pavlic's known pedigree ahead of his arrival at Blunsdon always suggested that his 4.00 assessed average would be effortlessly eclipsed, and the Croatian showed his talent once more with paid twelve in his second home match.
Despite that, though, it was surely a travesty that the Swindon rider of the night award was not awarded to Troy Batchelor as Pavlic, for all his talent and speed, did not actually beat any of Coventry's top four riders, whilst Batchelor conjured brilliant wins over Hans Andersen and Chris Harris.
For Bees, it was a 'nearly' display from several of their riders, with Olly Allen having probably his best return performance at Blunsdon, and Filip Sitera also showed signs of promise being somewhat unfortunate not to score more points.
Robins skipper Leigh Adams held off a strong early challenge from Andersen before pulling clear to win a shared Heat 1, the riders being well strung out by the end, which was the case again in Heat 2 as Pavlic dominated ahead of Sitera, young Australian Richard Sweetman taking a comfortable third place.
Heat 3 provided some action on the first lap with Mads Korneliussen rounding a defensive Chris Harris on turn three, whilst behind them Travis McGowan made his way inside Billy Janniro - and with one more lap, the Swindon second-string might have taken second place as Harris was slowing with his engine on the point of seizure.
Simon Stead, thankfully not seriously hurt at Monmore Green on Monday, supplied the first bright moment for the Bees with a fine cut-back out of turn two in Heat 4 to drive under Pavlic up the back straight and give the visitors their first race win of the night.
And that was backed up by maximum points in Heat 5, Andersen and Allen gating and Allen riding an intelligent third bend to run Korneliussen out wide - a move which also allowed McGowan into third place for the bulk of the race, Korneliussen having no time to respond when he regained his place.
Adams had to fend off a strong challenge from Stead in Heat 6, the Bees man almost making it down the inside when Adams veered off-line briefly on turn four, but James Wright's third place ensured that Swindon re-took the lead.
They doubled the advantage from two to four with a somewhat surprising 4-2 in Heat 7 with Batchelor working overtime to hold off Harris and winning the verdict on the line as Harris drew alongside out of the last bend. Sweetman, meanwhile, held off Janniro for all four laps to make it 23-19 to the Robins.
And then it was rather like Poole revisited as the match continued with a succession of 3-3s, starting with a comfortable win for Allen in Heat 8 ahead of Wright and Pavlic, whilst Korneliussen then recovered from his Heat 5 setback to defeat Stead in Heat 9 - Sitera riding well to take a point off McGowan.
Harris and Janniro packed in behind Adams to share Heat 10 but Batchelor did plenty of damage to Bees in a Heat 11 which they had targeted as a chance of points. The former Coventry squad man trapped on Andersen and then rode the perfect race despite Andersen's repeated challenge on the inside, and it was a victory which always had the look of a match-winner about it.
Heat 12 was again shared as Harris made the start to win by a distance, Sitera slipping off at the start of the last lap when very much in touch with Korneliussen.
Heat 13 was the best of the night with three riders leading at one stage or another. It was Batchelor who took the early advantage as Andersen and Adams battled, but Andersen quickly caught Batchelor and took him on the inside going into the second lap. Adams, however, gained ground as that tussle took place and moved into second place on the back straight, then making an identical move on Andersen going into the last lap. And just as with Harris earlier, Andersen was fortunate to reach the finish as his engine blew coming off the final bend and he was relieved that Batchelor wasn't quite close enough to profit.
With the gap at six points, that was always likely to be the end of it, and so it proved with Pavlic going clear of the field to win Heat 14 and McGowan weaving his way through the traffic, passing first Janniro and then Sitera on the last lap to record Swindon's only 5-1 of the night.
Heat 15 provided another good three-way battle for the lead, but this time the most impressive Batchelor managed to bring it home in front as Andersen had his hands full in holding off the repeated inside cut-back attempts of Adams.
That was enough to deprive the Robins skipper of a maximum, but the home side were happy enough with their night's work, especially as they have now made sure of a place in the play-offs - something which will now take a mathematical miracle for the Bees to achieve in 2008.
