POOLE put on a supremely impressive show of top-five strength - and especially gating ability - to deservedly qualify for the Knockout Cup Final.
The Buildbase Bees can reflect on being so close to an upset in the second leg of the original tie at Wimborne Road, but all good runs do come to an end - and this was their first KO Cup defeat since June 2005.
To have any sort of realistic chance given their 20-point first leg deficit, Bees needed everything to be in their favour - but in fact it was quite the reverse with two of their top four being ruled out injured.
That coupled with facing a full-strength Poole side on a circuit which had already staged 15 races was always going to lead to an uphill task.
But nothing should be taken away from the performance of the visitors, who had to sit and wait at Brandon for nearly two hours for the first match of the night to be completed - although a further delay to question the legality of the Bees' usage of Jesper B Monberg as a guest for Olly Allen was probably somewhat difficult to explain to the patiently waiting supporters.
Poole protested, but it had little bearing on the outcome of the tie with Monberg only able to score paid three in such tough company, and the Pirates could virtually have been sailing home by halfway through the meeting as their riders won all of the first eight heats.
The writing may have been on the wall when Magnus Zetterstrom - who must be a contender for signing of the season - headed home Hans Andresen in Heat 1, and Bees were still fighting a rearguard action when Heat 2 specialist Daniel Davidsson won that race yet again, Ryan Fisher doing well to block Freddie Eriksson on turn three to create space for Filip Sitera to take advantage.
But if there was any doubt about the way the tie was going to end, those were emphatically squashed when the Pirates managed to twice 5-1 the Chris Harris/Billy Janniro combination in Heats 3 and 5 with Harris suffering more ill-timed bike trouble and the fast-gating Pirates leaving no way through for Janniro either.
Maximum points from Bjarne Pedersen and Adam Skornicki - who rode a brilliant second bend in Heat 3 - were followed by a similar outcome from Zetterstrom and Chris Holder in Heat 5, and they sandwiched Davey Watt's win in a shared Heat 4.
That left Bees using the tactical ride as early as Heat 6, but even that didn't fully work with Watt leaving Andersen trapped on the inside from the start, and in fact his main challenge on the first lap came from the lively Fisher before the American made way for his double-points team-mate.
Skornicki and Pedersen increased the pain for Bees with another 5-1 in Heat 7, and just when Bees thought they had a race win, Zetterstrom superbly powered off turn two on the third lap of Heat 8 to make it back around Harris after the Bees skipper had seemingly done enough to make an inside pass.
Harris did get the move done in Heat 9 to finally give Bees a race winner, passing Davey Watt on the second lap with Janniro's third place bringing them back to 'just' ten down on the night.
Pedersen remained unbeaten by winning Heat 10 ahead of Janniro with Andersen having his hands full to eventually re-pass Skornicki for third place - but all the signs were pointing to another Pirates 5-1 in Heat 11, which was exactly what they took as Zetterstrom made his way inside Fisher on lap three after, for once, being beaten to the first bend.
Bees kept on fighting with Harris ending Pedersen's maximum chances in Heat 12 and Sitera chasing and passing Eriksson for third, and Andersen then managed a win in Heat 13 with a sturdy defence of the lead against Watt.
But as if to sum up Coventry's misfortunes Janniro, having done the hard work against Skornicki in Heat 14, suffered a mechanical failure at the start of the last lap and was sent crashing down, which turned a Bees 4-2 into one for the Pirates instead.
And that was the outcome from Heat 15 too, although this generated a super battle between Harris and Holder with the Australian showing his rare talent once again to hold off repeated attacks from the Bees captain which would have taken him past most other riders.
It completed a long night at Brandon and one which did not finish in the way the Bees had been hoping - but just as Coventry were the team of 2007, there has to be an acceptance that Poole are looking to be the team of 2008, and they are just about firing on all cylinders with an important month or so to come.
Bees still have to work to finish as high as possible in the Elite League and also re-group for the Craven Shield Final, which means they still have a chance of team honours this season.
BUILDBASE BEES 38 Hans Andersen 2 4^ 1* 3 = 10+1 Simon Stead Rider Replacement Chris Harris R 0 2 3 3 2 = 10 Billy Janniro 1 1 1 2 F = 5 Jesper B Monberg 0 1* 1 0 0 = 2+1 Ryan Fisher 2 1* 0 1 2 = 6+1 Filip Sitera 1* 2 1* 1 0 = 5+2
