Whatever it was that Eastbourne boss Jon Cook said to rally his troops at Arlington Stadium last night, it worked wonders.

Eagles emerged from the dressing-room fired up after an interval showdown with Cook to beat Ipswich 50-40 in their Elite League clash.

Wins by David Norris (2), and Nicki Pedersen in the last four races and some battling displays elsewhere lifted the Sussex squad.

Up until that point, only Norris and former Eagle Brent Werner, drafted in as a re-placement for Peter Ljung, had been blameless as a lack-lustre Eastbourne struggled to cope with a below-strength Ipswich.

Norris ended with 14 points, his only defeat coming first time out when Jesper Jensen rode round the outside for a surprise win, while Werner scored a paid 11.

Norris got his revenge in heat 12, then Pedersen and Adam Shields turned a 1-5 into a 4-2, and Joonas Kylmakorpi was inched out by Chris Louis in a photo-finish.

It put Eagles six points clear going into heat 15, and a final flourish by Norris and Pedersen stretched the lead to ten to give Eagles hope of securing their first bonus point of the season in Thursday's return.

It was all exciting stuff, yet for a long while Eagles had coughed and spluttered as Jensen and Hans Andersen threatened to put them to the sword.

Jensen won his first three races, including an extraordinary heat seven which saw Pedersen relegated from first to last.

When Edward Kennett was outridden by Arlington first-timers Kim Jansson and 17-year-old Daniel King in the next, Eagles trailed 25-23.

Cook must have feared the worst. But that was before the gloves came off behind closed doors.

Eastbourne: David Norris 14, Nicki Pedersen 10, Brent Werner 8, Adam Shields 7, Joonas Kylmakorpi 5, Ed-ward Kennett 5, Ulrich Ostergaard 1. Bonus points: Werner 3, Pedersen 1, Kylmakorpi 1, Ostergaard 1.

Ipswich: Jesper Jensen 11, Hans Andersen 11, Chris Louis 8, Kim Jansson 7, Daniel King 3, Trevor Harding 0. Bonus points: Jansson 1, King 1.