Big guns David Norris and Nicki Pedersen both fired blanks as the sky fell in on Eastbourne Eagles at Arlington Stadium on Saturday night.

Norris and Pedersen, appearing in back-to-back races as tactical riders on a mission to score double points which might have rescued the home team, were controversially excluded by referee Phil Griffin.

And although Eagles clawed back eight points in the last three heats, they were still beaten 49-43 by Elite League rivals Wolverhampton.

Norris crashed while trying to overtake Sam Ermolenko and Adam Skornicki in heat six, then Pedersen piled into the fence as he mixed it with David Howe and Fredrik Lindgren in heat seven.

Eastbourne protested furiously over both decisions, but when the dust had settled they were indisputably 14 points behind and staring down the barrel.

Eagles also complained over the starting line tactics of match-winner Lindgren, who was twice warned about moving before the tapes went up.

Eastbourne boss Jon Cook was staying tight-lipped about Griffin's performance after the meeting. "I think I'd better keep my mouth shut. I'll get into trouble if I say what I think."

Griffin had begun by twice reinstating Edward Kennett after he had lost control and fallen in heats one and two and then excluding Mads Korneliussen when he was the victim of first-bend bunching.

The young Dane, who was making his Eastbourne debut, was unlucky, especially as he had been in the lead when the race was stopped the first time.

There were six restarts in the first seven heats, by which stage Eastbourne's only realistic chance of escaping defeat was for the sky to fall in on Arlington in a different way. A downpour would have done Eagles nicely, but the rain stayed away.

Eagles finished with only five riders. Adrian Miedzinski was injured in Poland the night before, while Joonas Kylmakorpi, clearly not fit after breaking a collar-bone less than a month ago, pulled out of the meeting after twice trailing in last place.

The fact that Eagles cut the deficit to six points at the end was a tribute to the team's battling qualities, with Norris and Pedersen at least claiming a moral victory by twice trouncing Ermolenko and Mikael Max.

Both riders roared past Max in heat 13 for a 5-1, and then Norris came from behind to beat former world champion Ermolenko, who was probably appearing in his last race at the Sussex track, to spearhead a 4-2 in heat 15.

A revitalised Kennett, having been let off the hook at the start of the meeting, figured in two more Eastbourne 4-2's behind Pedersen and Adam Shields and also grabbed a second place on the last corner from Adam Skornicki.

But the real signs the 17-year-old local kid might have turned the corner came with a brilliant effort in heat eight when Eagles played their last trump card.

Shields was brought in as a tactical substitute starting 15m back, and Kennett, after going past Richard Juul, held off the Wolves rider for Shields to come from last to second on the final bend and nick four points for a 5-3 heat win.

For all that, the programme made dire reading for the Sussex squad for most of the night with Wolves eight points up after five races, ten after six heats and 14 after seven.

It all started to go wrong when the red lights came on with Korneliussen leading in heat two. The visitors eventually took the race with a 5-1, and Eagles lost ten more points in three races in heats five, six and seven.

The surprise packet was Lindgren. The Swedish under-21 champion dropped only one point in five rides when he was beaten by Norris in heat ten.

Norris was unbeaten in his remaining four rides, but that will be little consolation to the Eastbourne skipper who wears his heart on his sleeve these days and was clearly incensed by some of the decisions.

The defeat ended a run of seven home wins since Wolves won at Arlington back in April.

Eagles hope to include former Poole rider Davey Watt, who had a spin after racing, and also have star reserve Andrew Moore available for tonights return at Wolverhampton.

Eastbourne: Adam Shields 13, David Norris 12, Nicki Pedersen 9, Edward Kennett 6, Mads Korneliussen 3, Joonas Kylmakorpi 0. Bonus points: Pedersen 1, Kennett 1.

Wolverhampton: Fredrik Lindgren 12, David Howe 10, Adam Skornicki 9, Sam Ermolenko 9, Mikael Max 7, Richard Juul 2. Bonus points: Lindgren 2, Skornicki 2, Howe 1, Ermolenko 1, Juul 1.