Eastbourne Eagles are out of the Craven Shield after Poole Pirates spoiled the party at Arlington Stadium on Saturday night.

The newly-crowned Elite League champions were held to a 45-45 draw which ended their hopes of reaching the shield final and completing an end-of-season double.

Eagles, without the injured Joe Screen and with Martin Dugard and Dean Barker attempting to beat the pain barrier, failed to win at home for only the second time this year despite holding a commanding lead for most of the match.

They led 13-5 after three heats, 27-15 after seven and 37-23 after ten, but then the wheels came off in a big way as the Pirates overturned a 14-point deficit inside five races and plundered the draw they needed to knock out the Eagles and emerge as favourites to top the group ahead of Oxford.

Eastbourne boss Jon Cook paid tribute to his riders after the match and conceded that the Craven Shield was "one competition too far."

Said Cook: "It was always a case of patching up the walking wounded, and I think this showed just how much the last month has taken out of the team and how much we gave to win the title."

Eastbourne's cause was not helped by David Norris blowing his No. 1 bike in heat nine when he and Paul Hurry were on track for a 5-1 and Hurry suffering engine failures in the last two races, but the biggest blow was losing Dugard two-thirds of the way through the meeting.

Dugard, riding for the first time since suffering a broken collar-bone four weeks ago, was in obvious pain despite scoring seven points from three efforts before he left the fray.

At that stage, there did not appear to be a route back for the visitors, but inspired by new world champion Mark Loram and Scott Nicholls they turned the match upside down.

Apart from one race when Nicholls fell and was excluded, Poole's big two dropped only two points between them in 11 other outings and teamed up for two vital 5-1 wins in the last three heats.

Loram's only defeat came at the hands of Hurry in heat nine, while Nicholls, who won the opener in a fast 55.9sec., was beaten by Norris in heat five, but it was two of the lesser lights who really put the skids under the Eagles.

Polish newcomer Grzegorz Walasek, who had previously failed to score, beat Dean Barker and Petri Kokko in heat 11 to spark the fightback with a 5-1 behind Nicholls.

Then Lars Gunnestad, who had finished last in all his three previous races, suddenly hit form to win heat 14 ahead of Kokko and set up a last-heat decider.

It left Poole needing a 5-1 to snatch a dramatic draw, and once Nicholls and Loram hit the front against Norris it was all over bar the shouting.

Yet, earlier it had all looked plain sailing against the Pirates as first Kokko and Clouting and then Norris and Hurry opened up an eight-point lead almost at once with back-to-back 5-1 wins.

Poole were forced to bring in Nicholls and Loram as tactical substitutes as early as heats seven and eight, and another 5-1 from Hurry and Kokko put Eagles 12 points ahead.

Then, when Dugard, who had chased home Nicholls and Loram in his first two races, added to the 5-1 spree with Barker in heat ten, Eagles were dominant. Cue the break, and things were never the same again.

Eastbourne: David Norris 11, Paul Hurry 9, Petri Kokko 9, Martin Dugard 7, Dean Barker 5, Savalas Clouting 4.

Poole: Mark Loram 16, Scott Nicholls 13, Grzegorz Walasek 4, Gary Havelock 4, Alun Rossiter 4, Lars Gunnestad 3, Emil Lindqvist 1.