Roman Povazhny came back to haunt his old club as Eastbourne Eagles crashed to their first home defeat of the season.

The little Russian scored a paid ten points as Wolverhampton won a thriller 46-44 on Saturday night and left Eagles staring down the barrel in the Knockout Cup.

It isn't all over yet, because Eastbourne have already held Wolves to a draw on their own track in the league, but it could soon be.

The Sussex squad will have to produce a spectacular performance at Monmore Green in tonight's second leg to avoid going out after Wolves turned the formbook upside down at Arlington.

Povazhny wasn't the whole reason why Eagles lost, but he was buzzing all night and scored points in all his five races.

He and fellow reserve Wayne Carter finished with 12 points between them, while their opposite numbers, Petri Kokko and Brent Collyer, failed to beat anyone all night.

David Norris and Paul Hurry threw away vital points in the early stages when conditions were difficult on a track soaked by intermittent heavy rain during the day.

Eagles were behind 18-12 after five races but clawed their way back to level the scores at 27-27 after nine heats. Four shared heats after that meant it was 39-39 with two to go.

Man of the moment Sam Ermolenko, with a little help from Povazhny, did the rest.

The former world champion and new Overseas title-holder won heat 14 from Hurry, with Povazhny taking third place ahead of Kokko, to put Wolves 43-41 ahead going into the final heat.

Eagles needed a 5-1 to snatch a two-point lead to take to Wolverhampton, and that looked on when Martin Dugard and Joe Screen burst from the gate in front of Ermolenko and Ronnie Correy.

Then on the back straight Ermolenko came from out of the clouds to roar between the Eastbourne riders and take the lead with the sort of pass normally the exclusive right of Dugard at Arlington.

It was breathtaking stuff and a brilliant piece of speedway, and although Dugard was on Ermolenko's exhaust pipe for the rest of the race there was no way past for the Eagles' skipper.

Dugard and Screen both won their first three races, including one apiece over Ermolenko, but the American's third win of the night was decisive.

Improved By then, the track had improved, so much so that Ermolenko's time was two and half seconds faster than when he opened his account in heat three, and the top men were really motoring.

Heat 13 proved unlucky for Dugard and Screen and for Eagles. The Eastbourne pair looked nailed on for a 5-1 when Nicki Pedersen lost control on the pits bend while trying to overtake Dugard.

A furious Pedersen, who blamed Dugard, gestured wildly in the direction of the referee's box when he was excluded and had to be ushered from the track after hurling his helmet at the safety fence.

When the race was rerun, however, Correy got the jump on Screen and Dugard and led all the way for a crucial win.

It was the second time Pedersen had been involved in controversy. He was also thrown out of heat nine, this time for unfair riding, after Hurry crashed into the boards on the back straight.