A last ditch rescue bid failed to save Eastbourne Eagles from defeat against Elite League title chasers Oxford at Arlington Stadium on Saturday.

Eagles threw in top men Martin Dugard and David Norris in a tactical substitute manoue-vre in the penultimate heat, with Norris chasing double points from a 15m handicap.

Oxford skipper Steve Johnston, however, produced one of the rides of the season to foil the Sussex squad's attempt to land an 8-1 heat advantage and send the match into a last-race decider.

The Eastbourne plan was for Dugard to hold up Johnston and Ales Dryml, allowing Norris to catch up and pass the three men in front of him.

But Johnston got to the first bend wheel to wheel with Dugard and held the white line to win the battle for the lead.

Dugard got close, mighty close, on several occasions after that, but Johnston held his nerve to keep the Eastbourne captain at bay for the four laps.

Norris got past Dryml and collected four points when Dugard shut down and allowed his team-mate to cross the line in front of him, but there was no way back for Eagles after that.

The 4-2 by Todd Wiltshire and Brian Andersen over Dugard and Norris in the last race was academic as the visitors wrapped up a 51-41 victory.

For the Cheetahs, who also grabbed the bonus point, it was revenge for Eastbourne's shock win at Oxford eight days earlier and puts them back in pole position in the championship race.

It was Eagles' sixth defeat at home this season and, although they led by six points at one stage, the writing was on the wall from a long way out.

Take Dugard and Norris out of the equation, the best score Eastbourne's other five riders could manage between them was four points.

Joonas Kylmakorpi and Roman Povazhny gave Eagles an early flyer with a 5-1 in heat two and a brilliant ride by Toni Svab in the next to relegate Johnston to last place raised Eastbourne hopes another notch.

Leigh Adams dropped his only point of the night to Dugard in heat six, and the 4-2 courtesy of Brent Werner's third place put Eagles 21-15 in front.

Two successive 5-1's, first by Johnston and Adams and then Wiltshire and Dryml, turned the match in Oxford's favour and, although Dugard and Werner scored a surprise 4-2 over Andersen and Johnston in heat ten to level it at 30-30, it was only delaying the inevitable.

Two more maximums by Andersen and Wiltshire, then Adams and Dryml, underlined Oxford's strength in depth and opened up a 40-32 lead with three races left.

When Dugard could only split Adams and Andersen in heat 13, Eastbourne's only hope was to make the golden tactical gamble pay off and go for glory in the last.

Johnston's intervention put paid to that, leaving Oxford heading towards their first trophy since 1989 and Eagles' boss Jon Cook surely pondering again whether the present crop of riders are good enough to invest in the club's future.

Eastbourne: Martin Dugard 14, David Norris 11, Roman Povazhny 4, Dean Barker 4, Brent Werner 3, Joonas Kylmakorpi 3, Toni Svab 2. Bonus points: Povazhny 2, Svab 2, Dugard 1.

Oxford: Leigh Adams 16, Todd Wiltshire 13, Brian Andersen 11, Steve Johnston 6, Ales Dryml 5, Savalas Clouting 0. Bonus points: Wiltshire 3, Dryml 2, Adams 1.

EDWARD Kennett won his first race for Eastbourne Eaglets, but the Southern Junior League match against Arena Essex was abandoned after two heats with the score 6-6 when Arena rider Russell Paine suffered a broken leg.