Eastbourne Eagles had to pull out all the stops to keep their Elite League campaign on track at Arlington Stadium on Saturday night.

In the end, it took a spectacular last-heat effort by skipper Joe Screen and Dean Barker, Eastbourne's man of the season so far, to seal a 47-43 victory.

For a split-second, it looked odds-on Oxford's big guns, Grand Prix stars Nicki Pedersen and Todd Wiltshire, repeating their recent heroics at Belle Vue and snatching a 5-1 in the final race, which would have earned the visitors a shock draw.

Wiltshire flew out of the gate and was followed into the back straight by Pedersen, but suddenly Barker and Screen shot past Pedersen, one on either side, as though he was standing still.

Wiltshire won it, but Barker and Screen kept Pedersen behind them. And that was enough.

It was the fifth shared heat on the bounce and the eighth in ten races in a nip and tuck affair in which there was never more than four points between the teams.

It might have been a lot different if David Norris had not been hit by mechanical gremlins for the third match in succession.

Norris won his first two races in runaway style, but then the troubles began.

He was first over the line again on his next outing, beating the previously undefeated Pedersen in the process, but he lost the race back in the pits when referee Jim Lawrence excluded him for having a faulty silencer.

Either side of that, the Norris bike twice gave up the ghost, first with Adam Shields aboard and then Norris again, when both men were leading, effectively costing Norris a 12-point maximum and robbing Eagles of nine points in all.

It could have been crucial for the home side, especially with Mark Loram also experiencing engine problems, but the fans could not complain at the bonus of a thrilling finish.

The truth is that Eagles got away with it on the night, mainly courtesy of another top-class show by Barker and the fact that Screen came good after a nightmare first ride in which he trailed home in third place behind Oxford reserve Charlie Gjedde.

In the wider picture, the machine failures will not have done Eastbourne's chances of securing the bonus point in the return at Oxford any favours and will need to be sorted out before the Knockout Cup showdown with high riders Poole on Good Friday.

Wiltshire was too quick for Barker and Loram in the opener, but Eagles took an early lead with a couple of 4-2s, first by Shields and Seemond Stephens and then via Norris and Joonas Kylmakorpi.

That was cancelled out when Screen and Stephens were led a dance by Pedersen and Gjedde in heat four, but the Sussex outfit were back in front when Norris beat Wiltshire in the next with Kylmakorpi again securing third place.

Pedersen's bullet start account-ed for Loram and Barker in heat six, Screen and Barker won the next two, but the scores were level again, 27-27 after nine, when Pedersen was awarded the race against Norris.

Ultimately, the difference be-tween the sides was an Eastbourne 5-1 in heat ten by Loram and Barker over Adam Skornicki, deputising for the absent Sebastian Ulamek, and Niklas Klingberg.

By then, Screen was flying, and two wins by the Eastbourne skipper, who first beat Wiltshire and then outgunned both Pedersen and Wiltshire when Loram came down, plus a Shields victory when Norris packed up, were vital as Oxford refused to fold.