Speedway: Shields digs in as Eagles pull off a fairytale victory

Shields partnered Nicki Pedersen for the crucial 5-1 in heat 15 as the hosts came from ten points down over the last three races.

It was a stunning way for Eagles to open their home Elite League programme after the previous week's washout against Oxford.

And Shields' rags to riches tale summed up the evening.

Eagles' Aussie star admitted that, like his team-mates, he was rusty when he plunged into the air fence in front of the grandstand in his first race, the third on the card.

Niels-Kristian Iversen and Jesper Jensen plundered a 5-1 in the re-run to give their team a lead they never lost until the final race.

When Hans Andersen came out of the traps like a rocket to beat Pedersen in their first head-to-head, Peterborough were on their way to a 41-31 lead.

Then Eagles turned things around.

Pedersen, riding for double points, beat Andersen in heat 13 and David Norris followed up for a 7-2.

Then Shields and Brent Werner had a 4-2 in the 14th, meaning a maximum would nick it for Eagles.

Shields happily shouldered the responsibility of helping Pedersen around.

Shouldered' being the operative word.

Coming out of gate one, he was literally shoulder to shoulder with the ultracompetitive Andersen at the first bend.

But the home man held firm and Pedersen came outside to take first place.

As the Dane headed for another entry into his own personal Arlington folklore, it was a case of Shields holding off Jensen for second place, which he did to euphoric scenes, though it was desperately close at the end.

Shields relished the last-race showdown. He said: "It needed to be like that. It was a first corner with some of the best guys in the world out there.

"I'm certainly not one of those so I had to be a bit tough.

"I felt as if I made it (to the first bend) and all I had to do was give Nicki some room around the outside.

"That's the plan, then it's up to me to pick up the pieces and I was very pleased it went as it did."

Eagles were tackling their first meeting in 12 days, Peteborough their third in three nights.

Hardly surprising then that, for more than two-thirds of the way, the visitors looked sharp while the hosts lived down to the mediocre expectations most of speedway seems to have for them.

Shields added: "We haven't ridden enough. We've had almost two weeks off so I felt so rusty and it showed in my first race.

"That's never a good way to start a meeting.

"I made the mistake of thinking the track was very slick when it wasn't.

"I moved out into the dirt, it stood up and I had no way of getting it down in time.

"I twisted the bike a little but it's obvi-ously nothing too major because I rode it the rest of the night."

Norris held off an onslaught from Andersen to give Eagles a 4-2 in the opening race but they were second best from then on. Panthers opened an eightpoint lead when Jensen and Ulrich Ostergaard dominated Andrew Moore and Lewis Bridger in heat eight.

Dean Barker and Shields replied by shutting out Ryan Sullivan and Richard Hall.

But Panthers hit back instantly with another 5-1, for Jensen and Iversen over Norris and Moore.

When the lead stretched to 41-31 after 12 races on the back of Jensen's third win, Jon Cook sent Pedersen out in black and white.

"We got out of jail in the most spectacular fashion," admitted the Eagles promoter.

"What a way to open the campaign for our home fans.

That's speedway at its unimaginable best.

"We've never come back like that before.

"I don't think in that sort of last-heat situation you are going to beat Nicki and he just said to Adam before the race we've got to be very hard'. "I think the two of them rode the most exceptional race."

The comeback will no doubt spark more debate over the nominated rider, or joker, rule which has divided opinion in speedway for the last few years.

"I love the rule," laughed Cook as he left the pits.

"It's a stupid rule, it can turn back on you," said Ostergaard. Without it, Eagles would have been dead. Instead, the season really has taken off.