Trevor Geer has praised his new-look Eastbourne Eagles' fighting spirit after they overcame their first injury scare of the season with a touch of style.

Skipper Lee Richardson and fellow Great Britain rider Scott Nicholls powered around for a heat 15 5-1 over Bjarne Pedersen and ex-Eagle Davey Watt as Eastbourne beat old rivals Poole Pirates 52-42 in Craven Shield action at bitterly cold Arlington last night.

The result more than matched Poole's eight-point home win against their Sussex rivals earlier in the day and kept alive hopes of reaching the final.

All that despite losing in-form Edward Kennett to a crash in heat 11, then seeing Poole pile in an 8-1 in the re-run to reduce their arrears from 16 points to nine.

Kennett veered across in front of Adam Skornicki giving chase to Pedersen, who was going for double points.

The home rider was excluded and withdrew from the meeting with concussion and a bruised arm but Eagles' big guns kept reeling off the heat wins to keep Poole at bay.

That last-race maximum went down particularly well with most of the 1,500 crowd as it gave Eagles bragging rights over the two meetings.

It also completed a quality paid maximum for Richardson.

Team boss Geer said: "I'm delighted with that score, especially having lost Edward.

"I think he will be pretty sore for the rest of the week.

"That was bad luck but all the riders played their part and we've still come through.

"It's good to beat a team like Poole that's being tipped for honours, especially with the better aggregate. When Ed went I thought the aggregate was beyond us and we would just try and win the meeting but it's a brilliant result."

There is no longer an aggregate bonus point available but overall scores could still prove crucial if there is a tie at the top of the qualification group.

For Eagles, though, this was all about making a bold statement of intent after single-figure away defeats at Swindon and Poole in the previous 24 hours.

Yet the evening could not have got off to a worse start for them.

Pedersen got a flyer in heat one and Skornicki followed him around for a 5-1 over Nicholls and Lewis Bridger.

Eagles were almost level immediately. Simon Gustafsson won heat two and James Brundle, after a great start, valiantly held on to second place until Freddie Eriksson passed him third time around to limit the hosts to a 4-2.

Watt was given the benefit of the doubt by ref Dan Holt after going down on the second bend in heat three having been squeezed out by Richardson and Cameron Woodward, then split the home pair in the re-run as Eagles squared the overall contest.

The same home pair, though, put their side in front in superb style in heat five, going from the gate for a 5-1 as Woodward took the chequered flag ahead of his skipper.

That advantage doubled in the next race as Chris Holder span out of control and Bridger and Nicholls raced away from reserve Zbigniew Suchecki for the easy 5-1.

The third home 5-1 came in heat nine. Richardson again shot clear and Woodward followed despite a scare on lap two when he got badly out of shape and recovered just quickly enough to keep Holder behind him.

There was a lot of interest in how Holder, the highly-rated Aussie, would fare on his first trip to Arlington but he never gave himself a chance with a series of poor starts.

Watt, on whom a lot hinged for Poole, slid off in heat ten and Nicholls and Bridger happily plundered a 5-1 over Eriksson in the re-run to extend the lead to 16.

Then Kennett suffered his mishap to cause a few home nerves.

Eagles, though held out. Nicholls produced a moment of high class to ease inside Pedersen on lap two of heat 13 and force a 3-3.

Poole used Watt as a tactical substitute off a 15-metre handicap to claim a 5-2 in heat 14 but that was not enough on the night.

Then the big two made it a perfect evening for the home side with their team's fifth maximum.

EASTBOURNE: Nicholls 1,2*,3,3,2* =11+2 Bridger 0,3,3,2* =8+1 Richardson 3,2*,3,3,3 =14+1 Woodward 1,3,2*,2 =8+1 Kennett 3,3,X w/drew =6 Gustafsson 3,0,1,0,0 =4 Brundle 1,0,0,0 =1.

POOLE: Pedersen 3,1,6,2,1 =13 Skornicki 2*,0,0,2,2* =6+2 Watt 2,2,X,2,2+,0 =8 Zabik r/r Holder 2,r,1*,1,1* =5+2 Suchecki 0,1,0 =1 Eriksson 2,1*,1*,1,1*,3 =9+3.

- nominated rider.

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