Ipswich Witches cast another spell over Eastbourne Eagles, winning the first live Saturday night TV match at Arlington Stadium.

The 50-40 scoreline was a repeat of two weeks earlier, despite the Sussex squad including world champion Mark Loram and Steve Johnston, captain of league leaders Oxford, in their line-up.

Ipswich's fourth away win on the bounce lifted them to second in the table, while Eastbourne, who have now failed to win at home in five out of six league matches, are in mounting crisis.

Eagles, already stunned by serious injuries to Joe Screen and Dean Barker and the news that skipper Martin Dugard is quitting at the end of the season, lost Stefan Andersson after two rides.

Andersson complained of feeling dizzy, but by the end of the night he was in good company as the visitors ran rings round his team-mates.

Dugard, David Norris and Loram scored wins in the first four races, but after that Eagles managed only one more victory, again by Loram, in the remaining 11 heats.

Scott Nicholls produced another stunning display for the Witches, who time and again took flight from the gate faster than the Eagles.

Loram beat him in the best race of the night, but Nicholls ended the evening with a phenomenal tally of 76 points out of a possible 78 in Ipswich's last five matches.

Eastbourne might have survived a one-man blitz by Nicholls, but they had no chance in the face of spectacular back-up contributions from two riders at opposite ends of the speedway spectrum.

Jeremy Doncaster, coming up 40, won three out of four, including wins over Dugard and Loram, while 19-year-old Polish sensation Jarek Hampel's paid 12 points included an astonishing victory against Dugard, Loram and Chris Louis.

Dugard's win in the opener over Hampel and Louis took him past 6,500 career points, and things looked promising for Eagles when Norris and Andersson both came from behind to post a 4-2 against Doncaster and Craig Boyce in heat three.

Loram beat Nicholls in a thriller in the next to open up a four-point lead, but that was the last time the home side were in front.

Louis and Hampel levelled it with a 5-1 in heat five, and another maximum by Doncaster and Boyce two races later put Ipswich ahead.

Eastbourne had an escape in the next when Savalas Clouting fell while the visitors were sitting on another 5-1, but Doncaster's defeat of Dugard in heat ten sparked a 4-2 and put Ipswich six points up.

Dugard as a tactical to partner Loram in heat 11 was foiled by the remarkable Hampel, but there was a glimmer of hope for Eagles when another tactical, this time Loram, produced a 5-1 with Norris in heat 12.

That made it 37-35 to the visitors with three to go, but it was all over bar the shouting when Dugard and Loram were outgunned by the brilliant Nicholls and Louis in heat 13.