Trevor Geer admitted Eastbourne came alive far too late as they suffered another away defeat.

Eagles went down to their tenth reverse in as many fixtures away from Arlington as they lost 53-42 at Peterborough last night.

Panthers remain bottom of the Elite League but their bonus-point win leaves them just seven points adrift of Eastbourne.

Timo Lahti left the meeting early with concussion and sickness after a crash which sent him under the air fence in his second outing.

Eagles had no answer to home No.1 Kenneth Bjerre, whose six-ride full maximum included four wins over opposite number Bjarne Pedersen, who otherwise unbeaten.

But they gave themselves hope of at least a losing bonus point when they cut arrears from 39-23 to 41-36 with an 8-1 and a 5-1 in heats 11 and 12.

Eagles boss Geer said: “It wasn’t a great start for us but once we got the set-up right and Lewis (Bridger) got going we almost got something from it.

“That was the first 8-1 I can remember us getting to work for a long time.

“But it was still disappointing, We had Denis (Gizatullin) doing nothing and Simon (Gustafsson) deserved more points than he got.”

A mechanical problem proved to have a silver lining for Gustafsson.

He borrowed Cameron Woodward’s spare bike and joined Pedersen on an 8-1 which breathed new life into Eastbourne.

Bridger and Woodward then added a 5-1 which had alarm bells ringing among the home side in Ryan Sullivan’s first match as manager at Alwalton.

But Bjerre won a terrific tussle with Pedersen to lead a 4-2 in heat 13 and a 5-1 for high-scoring reserve Dakota North and resurgent Nicolai Klindt over Bridger and Gizatullin in heat 14 ended Eastbourne hopes.

Bjerre completed his full house against Pedersen and Woodward as heat 15 ended as a 3-3.

Geer revealed Lahti felt unwell after his crash.

He said: “Timo got quite a knock. He was shaking and feeling sick.

“The paramedics initially seemed to think he could carry on but you could see he wasn’t right.”

Peterborough: Bjerre 18 (6), North 13+1 (7), Larsen 7+1 (5), Klindt 6+3 (5), Lawson 6 (4), Fisher 3+1 (4), Sundstrom r/r.

Eagles: Pedersen 14^ (5), Bridger 12+1 (7), Woodward 11+2^ (6), Gustafsson 4+2 (5), Gizatullin 1 (5), Lahti 0 (1), Dryml r/r.