Eastbourne suffered a body blow to their hopes of a home tie in the Elite League play-offs when they lost to bottom side Coventry last night.

Eagles were beaten 49-41, the damage being done in the last two races when they conceded back to back 5-1s.

Morten Risager scored a surprise win in heat 14 ahead of one-time Eastbourne recruit Sergei Darkin against Davey Watt and Adam Shields.

Then Andreas Jonsson and Billy Janniro bagged another maximum in the final race from Nicki Pedersen after Joonas Kylmakorpi had fallen.

It was only Coventry's eighth win in 33 attempts and ended Eastbourne's unbeaten run of five matches.

The Sussex side collected the bonus point but will now have to sweat it out while other teams complete their fixtures.

Eastbourne missed their injured talisman, David Norris. Although his replacement, Gary Havelock, beat Janniro and Darkin in one race, he struggled in his remaining rides, picking up only three more points.

Pedersen was unbeaten until heat 15 but could do nothing to turn the match Eastbourne's way at the end.

Until the last two races, they had disputed the lead with the home team, leading 14-10 after four heats and trailing by 32-28 after ten races.

Shields and Kylmakorpi gave Eagles an early boost with a 5-1 in heat three, and it looked promising for the visitors when Pedersen and Edward Kennett took a 4-2 in the next race against Janniro and Darkin.

Risager and Stuart Robson hit back with a 5-1 in heat five, and it was another seven races before the next significant move when Eastbourne grabbed a 5-1 via Kylmakorpi and Watt.

That made it 36-36 with three to go, and when Pedersen notched his fourth win in as many races over Jonsson and Janniro it still looked good for the Eagles. It all went wrong after that.

Coventry: Andreas Jonsson 13, Billy Janniro 10, Morten Risager 7, Sergei Darkin 7, Chris Harris 6, Stuart Robson 5, Tomasz Piszcz 1. Bonus points: Janniro 2, Risager 1, Darkin 1, Harris 1, Robson 1, Piszcz 1.

Eastbourne: Nicki Pedersen 13, Adam Shields 7, Joonas Kylmakorpi 6, Gary Havelock 6, Davey Watt 5, Edward Kennett 4, Sebastian Tresarrieu 0. Bonus points: Shields 1, Watt 1, Kennett 1.