Arena Essex had the last laugh on Eastbourne Eagles last night despite David Norris's joker.

Norris, brought in as a tactical substitute with his side trailing by eight points midway through the match, conjured up a magical ride from 15m behind the tapes.

Victory for Norris ahead of team-mate Nicki Pedersen and Arena's Dean Barker and Kelvin Tatum meant Eagles landed an 8-1 to cut the gap to 29-28 after eight races.

Arena, however, clung on to win a nail-biting encounter 47-46 with former Eagles star Mark Loram beating Norris and Pedersen in a last-heat decider.

Pedersen was unbeaten by an opponent until the final race, while Adam Shields dropped his only point to Paul Hurry.

Norris plugged away to good effect without recording another win.

He suffered a couple of surprise defeats at the hands of Tatum and Hurry, but where Eagles lost the match was at reserve.

Leigh Lanham and Josh Larsen ended the evening being paid for 23 points between them, while Edward Kennett and Davey Watt managed only five.

Eastbourne's lone heat advantage in the first half came when Shields and Joonas Kylmakorpi managed a 4-2 in heat three.

Larsen and Lanham posted a 5-1 in heat two, and when Lanham and Tatum did the same over Kylmakorpi and Watt in heat 12 Arena were seven points up with three to go.

Pedersen and Norris got a 4-2 in the next, and then Shields and Kennett struck with a 5-1 over Larsen and Barker to reduce the arrears to one point again.

Arena Essex: Mark Loram 12, Leigh Lanham 10, Paul Hurry 9, Josh Larsen 8, Kelvin Tatum 5, Dean Barker 3.

Eastbourne: David Norris 15, Nicki Pedersen 12, Adam Shields 11, Joonas Kylmakorpi 3, Edward Kennett 3, Chris Schramm 1, Davey Watt 1.