Eastbourne Eagles threw away a 12-point lead to lose 46-45 to Wolverhampton at Arlington Stadium on Saturday.

The Eastbourne riders brought about their own downfall after putting themselves in a match-winning position after six races.

It all started to go wrong in heat seven when Adam Shields failed to defend the 24-12 lead. He missed the gate and allowed American Sam Ermolenko and Pole Adam Skornicki to register a 5-1.

That cut the Eagles' lead to eight points but still allowed Wolves' team manager Peter Adams to introduce Mikael Max as a tactical joker.

The Swede rode off a 15m handicap and became involved in an exciting race.

Ermolenko led from the tapes hotly pursued by Eastbourne's Ulrich Ostergaard.

On the last corner, Ermolenko delivered a sucker punch, and the inexperienced Ostergaard fell for it.

Ermolenko managed to baulk the Eastbourne rider sufficiently to allow Max to come through into second place. Max's points were doubled because he was riding as a "joker", which meant Wolves scored a 7-1 to bring the score to 26-24.

In truth, this was not a case of Eagles being victims of speedway's new rules as this facility existed last year when it was known as a golden double. But Wolves exploited it perfectly and then pounced again the next time Shields was on track.

Richard Juul and David Howe wiped the floor with him in heat 11 after Shields had made another error when battling Juul for the lead.

The misery continued for the Eagles rider in heat 13 when he hit the tapes and was forced to ride off a 15m handicap.

Eagles' team manager Jon Cook said: "Adam had a nightmare after a fantastic first race.

"We have got to sort that problem out because obviously we have a second heat leader who, if he rides badly, we lose.

"I don't mean to be harsh because Adam is a lovely bloke and he doesn't need any more pressure on him.

"But you cannot hide the fact that we are struggling in that department."

Eastbourne had a chance to salvage a win in heat 15 when a 5-1 by Nicki Pedersen and David Norris over Max and Ermolenko would have saved the day but all hope went when Pedersen was excluded by referee Richard Williams after falling on the first bend.

Until that point, Pedersen was having his best Arlington meeting of the season and was unbeaten in four races. He looked particularly quick and twice defeated Max as both tuned up for next Saturday's first Grand Prix of the season in Sweden.

Eastbourne: David Norris 13, Nicki Pedersen 12, Joonas Kylmakorpi 7, Adam Shields 5, Ulrich Ostergaard 4, Edward Kennett 3, Matt Read 1. Bonus points: Kylmakorpi 3, Norris 1, Ostergaard 1.

Wolverhampton: Sam Ermolenko 13, Mikael Max 12, Richard Juul 8, Adam Skornicki 6, David Howe 5, Eric Carrillo 2. Bonus points: Skornicki 2, Max 2, Juul 1, Carrillo 1, Howe 1.