Eastbourne Eagles beat Ipswich 47-43 in a thriller at Foxhall Stadium last night to keep up the pressure at the top of the Elite League table.

After trailing early on, they made good use of tacticals to draw level with two heats to go, before slamming home a maximum in the final heat.

Not only did it win them the meeting, but also the aggregate bonus point and they are now back level on points with Wolverhampton at the top of the table.

The best two riders on show were Mark Loram and Joe Screen. They were paired together three times in the final five races.

It proved crucial, ensuring that the Eagles had the necessary fire power to hit the Witches when it really mattered.

Eagles' promoter Jon Cook was delighted with the result.

He said: "We did exactly what Ipswich done to us, trailing behind early on and then hitting them at the end, but even though we won we were still nowhere near our best.

"However I'm thrilled to win and this is the first that I can remember ever winning here in the League.

"We really needed this victory and it now keeps the pressure on the top of the table."

Screen and Loram received good support from former Ipswich rider David Norris, while Adam Shields was a worthy guest at number seven for the injured Toni Svab.

The Witches were missing their Grand Prix star Scott Nicholls but his guest replacement Sebastian Ulamek was good value, scoring ten.

Eagles' asset Joonas Kylmakorpi continued his good form with a paid nine points.

Scorers - Ipswich: S Ulamek 10, C Slabon 8, C Boyce 8, J Kylmakorpi 8, J Doncaster 7, D Bird 2. Eastbourne: M Loram 14, J Screen 14, D Norris 8, A Shields 8, S Andersson 2, S Clouting 1.