Eastbourne Eagles are facing a major play-offs re-think after they were hammered at Belle Vue last night.

Eagles' theory that they would fancy a return to Manchester in the end-of-season knockout was blown out of the water as they crashed 59-35 in skybet Elite League action.

They had just three heat wins against the leaders and those by Davey Watt and battling Andrew Moore were consolation efforts long after any chance of even the bonus point had disappeared.

Over-watering by the Kirksmanhulme Lane staff made racing tricky in the earlier heats and Eagles assistant manager Trevor Geer admitted his men struggled badly.

Geer said: "It was embarrassing. The track freaked us out."

Eagles were struggling from the moment David Norris suffered chain failure on the first bend of the night.

Kenneth Bjerre, on his way to a five-race maximum, and Simon Stead went through for the first of six Belle Vue 5-1s.

Grand Prix stars Nicki Pedersen and Jason Crump were upstaged by veteran Aces reserve Andy Smith in their first meeting, heat four.

The hosts added three 5-1s and a 4-2 in the next four races, with Dean Barker saving a little face by getting inside Rusty Harrison to take second behind easy winner Crump in heat seven.

Pedersen, riding for double points, came off gate one to comfortably take race nine and give Eagles their first win of the night. But Bjerre and Stead saw off Davey Watt's challenge for another 5-1 in the next heat.

A dominant home display was summed up in heat 13 when Crump had time to let Bjerre through for his cleansweep as Pedersen and Norris trailed badly.

Belle Vue: Bjerre 15 (5), Crump 11+1 (5), Smith 10+1 (6), Stead 9+4 (5), Lyons 8+2 (4), Harrison 4 (3), Wright 2 (2).

Eagles: Pedersen 10 (4), Moore 7+1 (6), Barker 7 (5), Watt 5+1 (6), Norris 4 (5), Allen 2+1 (4).