COVENTRY'S uncertain home form was exposed in the first event of the Midland League, with Peterborough's win making them favourites to take the silverware.
A Panthers victory looked unlikely after nine races as the Buildbase Bees appeared to have control, but two surprise 5-1s changed all that and Bees were on this occasion unable to make their comeback.
The visitors were bolstered by the inclusion of Troy Batchelor and Darcy Ward as guests, but whilst all six of Bees' regular riders won at least one race, the majority were also inconsistent and there were too many last places.
Batchelor was superb for the Panthers after conceding a 5-1 in his first race, and the other match winner was second-string Claus Vissing who racked up an impressive paid-11 in his best Brandon performance.
The Panthers, without a win at Brandon since early 2005, opened up with two 4-2s with Niels-Kristian Iversen just holding off a fast-catching Chris Harris in Heat 1, the Bees skipper just failing to make it around the outside on the run to the line.
There was a place change in the closing stages of Heat 2, however, and it was Henning Bager who got past Bees guest Joe Haines just in time to give the visitors another advantage with Ward up front ahead of Ricky Wells.
Bees quickly got themselves back on level terms as Ben Barker and Edward Kennett both made fast starts in Heat 3 and moved clear of the Panthers, who almost collided on the third bend before Batchelor overtook Ward later in the race.
The next two were shared with Olly Allen the winner of Heat 4 and Wells getting alongside the hard-working Ward on the second lap, but just being closed down before he could make the pass - and then Vissing gated in Heat 5 but lifted mid-bend allowing Kennett to scoot around the outside with Iversen pegging the inside, and Barker being completely squeezed out.
Rory Schlein made a good start in Heat 6 to get to the bend in front, with Harris holding a comfortable second place for a Bees 5-1 over Bager and Mads Korneliussen, putting Coventry ahead for the first time.
The lead was immediately halved in Heat 7 as Batchelor took his first win, Allen getting the better of Ward in a close first-lap battle - and then Heat 8 provided a most surprising result.
The inside had hardly been the starting position of choice, but Wells made it work and raced away for a terrific win over Ward and Vissing, although Schlein was sent to the back on the first couple of turns and was then unable to get into a scoring position.
There was more good team-riding from Kennett and Barker in Heat 9 as Kennett waited for Barker into turn three, and they then switched positions to enable Kennett to take the outside line, gradually moving themselves clear of Korneliussen and Bager to put Bees six points up.
You would have got long odds on an immediate Panthers response in Heat 10 against Harris and Schlein, but they did exactly that with Batchelor and Vissing taking a shock 5-1 which was clearly the turning point of the meeting.
Vissing took a fall in first-bend bunching at the first attempt to run Heat 11, but he was unaffected by that and recovered to partner Iversen to maximum points over Allen in the re-run, to suddenly put the Panthers ahead.
Batchelor kept his winning run going in Heat 12, despite the considerable efforts of Barker to find a way through, and third place for Ward put them into a winning position, with a four point lead to defend.
Race of the night was Heat 13 and one which gave Bees a glimmer of hope, as Harris wound Iversen in and then took him brilliantly on the outside around the first and second bends of lap four, and with Allen in third place the gap was down to two.
The unbeaten Kennett was hot favourite for Heat 14 but Korneliussen, who had done little to that point, made a good start and took advantage of some frantic action between the other three riders when Ward lifted. Kennett and Wells took second and third, and Kennett did all he could to catch Korneliussen, but ended up needing one more lap to make a decisive move.
That left Bees needing a 5-1 in Heat 15 to turn things round at the end, but whilst Kennett made the start, Harris was left behind both Batchelor and Iversen - and with the Panthers gradually establishing their position, Batchelor began to put pressure on Kennett and finally moved inside him on the last lap to wrap up a brilliant guest performance.
Bees, meanwhile, were left to reflect on providing seven heat winners on their home track as well as ten last places - too few, and too many respectively, and the fact that they have only reached 50 points in two of the last ten home matches has to be a matter of concern.