ACTIONS speak louder than words - and it was Eastbourne's new hero Lukas Dryml who turned out to be the difference between the sides at Arlington on Saturday.
The Czech rider very much did his talking on the track with five fast starts out of six, including wins in both Heats 13 and 15 as the Buildbase Bees came away from Arlington point-less.
The pre-match entertainment was supplied by Eastbourne promoter Bob Dugard on the centre-green - which was a pity, because the only serious talking point supporters required was the way in which the home riders applied themselves to the task of taking all three points from the meeting.
To be fair, that is something they have been doing consistently at Arlington all season, and it is surely those exploits which should be promoted rather than negativity caused by perceived injustices elsewhere.
The lengthy monologue included an unorthodox interpretation of the word 'stole' in relation to a rider who only ever initially requested to go on loan and has now commanded a transfer fee of £29,000 after being told he was no longer welcome - and it was once again put to one side that Bees' changes have been made in order to get back to a seven-man unit following an assortment of seriously broken bones.
Eastbourne themselves appear to be on the verge of replacing their own injured rider, David Norris, with Russian Champion Denis Gizatullin, which seems to be a perfectly appropriate move.
The points limit ensures that no amount of money will ever win the Elite League, and it is perfectly possible to do so without having the strongest team on paper - something the Bees proved themselves in 2007 and arguably also in 2005.
And suggestions that the current team declaration makes Coventry nailed-on to win the League have to be considered premature at best, because it is abundantly clear that circumstances have led to a team which is top-heavy and could always come under threat against solid-scoring outfits like the Eagles.
All that said, this was a meeting which the Buildbase Bees expected to win given the Arlington expertise within their ranks, and the fact that they took no points was a major disappointment.
The first race gave an indication of the frustration which was to follow, as Scott Nicholls made a great start from the outside only for the three riders inside him to tangle, with Robert Kseizak and Davey Watt going down.
With all four riders returning for the re-run, Dryml and Watt got it right from the start to head Nicholls - booed by the home crowd for no apparent reason after achieving a nine-point average for the Eagles last season - and it was already clear that gating was going to be of paramount importance.
New doubling-up rider Kseizak certainly impressed in that department, and he managed to prevent a second 5-1 in Heat 2 although he was unable to prevent the returning Simon Gustafsson from taking the advantage up the back straight.
Bees were clearly going to be in need of advantages in the races where they could pair their big guns, and the first one went according to plan as Edward Kennett and guest Adam Shields made the start in Heat 3, Kennett just realising in time that it was Shields on his immediate outside, and their job was done before Lewis Bridger overdid things at the start of the last lap in his efforts to find a way through.
But just as Bees got back into the meeting, they were hit for another 5-1 by Dryml in Heat 4, this time combining with Gustafsson by taking Chris Harris wide on the first bend and making the score 15-9 in the Eagles' favour.
Nicholls made short work of Heat 5 as Bridger and Cameron Woodward went either side of Kseizak on the back straight, and Harris rode well to clamp Watt to the inside in a shared Heat 6, as Ksiezak lost third place to Ricky Kling who showed his track knowledge coming off the fourth bend.
Six points down again, it was up to Shields and Kennett to recover most of the deficit, and they did just that in Heat 7 with another 5-1 with Dryml left trailing for what turned out to be the only time in the meeting.
Shields, looking super-impressive, then won Heat 8 with ease and the two-point gap was maintained when Harris took Heat 9 but Ksiezak was unfortunate as he held third place over Woodward until suffering mechanical problems on the second lap.
With their top four in theory covering all of the remaining races, and the opportunity to pair two of them in three out of six heats, Bees still felt they were favourites from a 26-28 scoreline at the interval.
But it was Eastbourne who emerged as the stronger force, as first the Shields/Kennett combination was punctured in Heat 10 - initially by Bridger, who made a rapid getaway to race clear of Shields, and then by Watt, who chased Kennett strongly around the outside and then cut inside him on lap three to take an important third place.
With the Eagles clearly not wanting to over-use Gustafsson after his recent broken collarbone, Josh Auty rode an intelligent race in Heat 11 to get the better of Kling for his first point of the night, but Bees were unable to claw any points back as Dryml made it from the inside to get the better of Nicholls for a 3-3.
Heat 12 provided a big talking point as Bridger and Kennett fiercely contested the first bend, Bridger taking his opponent wide and causing something of a bottleneck resulting in Gustafsson going down.
The referee's view was that the Swede had fallen by himself, a decision which could just as easily been all-four back, and Bees took advantage in the re-run when Bridger made what turned out to be too good a start, because as he moved outside to cover Kennett, the Coventry rider had read his opponent's intentions and was already switching back to the inside to take an excellent win.
Bees had got themselves back to a two-point deficit and the match still looked to be in their grasp, but Eastbourne edged closer to the result they wanted when Dryml again upset the formbook in Heat 13 - there was clear movement at the start from Watt on the inside, but with the Eagles skipper being left at the back, the race continued and Dryml came across from the outside to defeat both Harris and Nicholls and leave the scores at 40-38.
The margin for error was well and truly gone, and the chance of a win was effectively gone too after the first staging of Heat 14, when the inspired Gustafsson was joined at the front by Woodward with Shields pursing hard. Shields looked to have rounded his opponent for second place on turn four, but Woodward came back hard on the inside into the second lap, and Shields hit the fence heavily on turn one.
It was another decision which could have gone either way but on this occasion it was the Coventry rider who was disqualified, and Eastbourne were virtually home and dry for their win - although Auty certainly remained in contention in the re-run, but the mistake never came from the home riders.
So then it was all about the extra point, with yet another Coventry match this season going down to the last race for it, and Bees' chances appeared to have been improved when Dryml's initially-chosen partner Bridger was ruled out as he was not one of the top three scorers, his win in Heat 10 having come from a non-programmed ride.
But Woodward has already this season shown the ability to raise himself in Heat 15, and it was to be the case again as Dryml again put himself in first place going into the first bend, and Woodward managed to bundle his way past Shields on the back straight for third. Four laps of fierce dicing followed with Harris generating huge speed in his attempts to find a way past Dryml, and Shields throwing everything at Woodward, and on the last half-lap Harris gave up on Dryml and attempted to block out Woodward to offer Shields an opening - but the move just failed and Woodward was still third when the three riders crossed the finishing line together.
And that meant Bees were left with absolutely nothing from an immensely frustrating evening, although they remain very much in the Elite League's top four at the halfway stage of the season.
And who knows, their injury problems may just have eased by the time the teams next meet at Arlington in mid-August?
