Eastbourne Eagles were held to a draw by Elite League title favourites Oxford Cheetahs at Arlington Stadium on Saturday night.

The Sussex squad threw away an eight-point lead and in the end had to close ranks behind man of the match Leigh Adams to finish all square at 45-45 and salvage a point.

Adams, the league's No. 1 rider, flew in the last race to record his fourth win of the night, leaving Joe Screen and David Norris to shut out Brian Andersen and prevent Oxford causing a major upset.

It all went pear-shaped for Eagles with a series of costly falls and engine failures after they had led 34-26 after ten heats.

Norris and Joonas Kylmakorpi came off, victims of a track made slippery and slimy by persistent rain which fell during the meeting, while Martin Dugard and Brent Werner stopped, all in the space of three heats as Oxford mounted a late challenge.

The visitors bagged a 4-2 when Marcus Andersson packed up in heat 11 and another when Norris fell in the next, and the best Eastbourne could do in heat 13 was a 3-3, thanks to Screen after Dugard had suffered his second bike failure in four outings.

The wheels really came off for the reigning champions in heat 14 when Kylmakorpi fell while in the lead. Team-mate Brent Werner clipped Kylmakorpi's machine and immediately ground to a halt.

Kylmakorpi managed to remount for third place, but the damage had effectively been done, with Oxford being gifted a 5-1 via Ales Dryml and Andersen.

Dryml's time was a desperate 62.5sec., seven seconds outside the track record and more than five seconds slower than the best of the night by Adams in heat four, but it didn't matter to the Cheetahs.

The alarm bells were ringing with one heat to go and the scores level at 42-42, but Screen and Norris at least made sure Eagles did not start their home league campaign with a shock reverse.

There was no hint of the drama which was to unfold when Dugard and Dean Barker gave Eagles a flying start with a 5-1 in heat one.

Kylmakorpi's first win in Eastbourne colours, with Norris in tow, gave Eagles another maximum in heat five and stretched the lead to 18-12.

It was 27-21 after Barker and Werner had scored a 4-2 in heat eight, and Eagles went further ahead two races later with another 4-2, this time from Dugard and Barker.

In between, Norris inflicted the first defeat of the night on Adams, but the Oxford ace bounced back as a tactical substitute in heat 11 to beat Screen and spark the turnaround.

Adams finished third behind Screen and team-mate Todd Wiltshire in heat 13, but there was no stopping him in the last race, victory taking his tally to 15 points and a phenomenal 50 points in his last three visits to Arlington.