BEES were left beaten and deflated at the end of a televised epic against title rivals Swindon - a last heat 5-1 finally ending their 14-month unbeaten home record.
But although the final blow was applied by Leigh Adams and the ultra-fast reserve Tomasz Chrzanowski, even had Bees clung on to win the match it would have been a totally different victory in terms of individual scoring to how their success of recent years has come about.
Ten heat winners out of fifteen was all well and good, but ten last places was a far from impressive statistic, and co-boss Peter Oakes candidly pointed out after the meeting that only four riders had made anything like their expected contributions.
Defeat for the team was harsh on the three heat-leaders and battling reserve Olly Allen, and the Robins too had some unexpectedly low scorers - the difference at the end was the gating of Chrzanowski and the fact that Adams, who hardly made a start all night, leapt off gate two in the decider.
Heat 1 was re-started with Mads Korneliussen perhaps somewhat fortunate to be invited back after falling going into turn one, his bike collecting Adams and bringing the Australian down in the process - but the re-run also saw the Bees riders make the start only for Adams to make a clever kerb-crawling manoevre on the second lap to snatch second place from Billy Janniro.
Allen, whose gating was again exemplary, shot away in Heat 2 and rode the right line to hold back Chrzanowksi, who effectively gained a point for his team by riding Martin Smolinski wide on turn two leaving room for Andrew Moore to come through for a shared heat - and the third race also ended 3-3 with Rory Schlein riding well on the exit of turn two to squeeze past Sebastian Ulamek, Charlie Gjedde holding on to third place.
The Robins levelled the scores when Chris Harris missed the start in Heat 4, and although he was quickly able to pass Lee Richardson on the fourth bend he could make no impression on Chrzanowski, who was already displaying ominous signs of being a reserve well and truly in form.
Schlein won the Australian battle in Heat 5 with a fast start off gate 2 to head Adams, but Morten Risager was overtaken on the outside by Korneliussen on the second lap, and that left the scores tied at 15-15.
Bees took a 4-2 from Heat 6 although it was a sensible ride from Richardson to prevent further damage for Swindon, as he avoided being taken wide by Nicholls by cutting back to block Janniro, whereas had he maintained his outside run he could well have found himself in third place.
So Bees had edged in front at that stage, and they made another big move in Heat 7 thanks to quick starts from both Harris and Allen, who then defended second place manfully from Ulamek. The drama occurred on the third and fourth bends of lap three as Ulamek appeared to have found a way through on the inside, only to clip Allen's wheel and fall on turn four, bringing Allen down with him, and after checking the replay referee Robbie Perks quite rightly excluded Ulamek and awarded Bees a 5-1.
Their six-point lead, however, did not last long as Allen was unfortunate in Heat 8 to be sent wide by Chrzanowski on the first bend, and then as he appeared to have a line inside Korneliussen going into the second lap the Dane defended his position most robustly down the straight. With Janniro unable to come through either when he took over third place, the gap was back down to two points.
Heat 9 was almost a repeat performance of Heat 9 with Schlein taking the win but Risager being reeled in and then overtaken by Moore on the outside, and Robins' boss Alun Rossiter's subsequent move to bring Chrzanowski into Heat 10 to replace Gjedde paid massive dividends as he and Ulamek out-gated Nicholls and inflicted the Bees skipper's first defeat of the night with a big 5-1 to put the visitors two points in front.
It was nip-and-tuck then for the remainder of the meeting with Allen almost pulling off an heroic ride in Heat 11 as he led Adams for three and three-quarter laps. Credit to Adams, though, who was under constant pressure from Harris, but just managed to turn back off the final bend and get his wheels in line first to win the race to the finish and salvage a 3-3.
Heat 12 was also shared as Schlein made it four wins out of four and Allen's outside run on turn two was just blocked by Ulamek and Chrzanowski - which left Bees in the position of desperately requiring big points from Heat 13.
They got them in quite sensational fashion because Adams and Richardson appeared to have the better of things from the start only for Nicholls to cut back and hit the front down the back straight. Harris, meanwhile, pulled off another astonishing ride to get between Adams and the fence before turn three, and then keep his speed going to make his way around Richardson as well. It was an amazing lap, a brilliant 5-1 - and it should have been one to win Bees the match.
Allen again showed his coolness under pressure with a lightning start to gate on and beat Chrzanowski in Heat 14, but there was total frustration behind as Smolinski, who had not ridden since Heat 4, moved through on the inside of Gjedde into third place on lap three, only to suffer a chain breakage going down the back straight of the final lap, leaving Bees to again rue an ill-timed mechanical failure.
Even so, a 3-3 in the last race would have secured the win and Bees won the toss, selecting gates 1 and 3, and the unbeaten Schlein and Nicholls for the race. Adams, as Greg Hancock had on Friday, made a brilliant start but from the line Bees may just have had what they needed - until Chrzanowski, off the unfavoured gate 4, made it right around the outside and then defied Nicholls' every effort throughout the entire four laps. For the second time in two home meetings, Bees had conceded a 5-1 in Heat 15 to swing the match against them at the final hurdle.
Heat 15, however, was only one of the factors which combined to see Bees drop two (three, including the aggregate point) vital points to their rivals for honours, and the scorechart at the end of the night told the story of what had been a marvellous meeting in fairly emphatic fashion. There is still a very long way to go, but Bees need to get back to doing what they are good at!