Nicki Pedersen took one last Arlington curtain call for the season and told his adoring Eastbourne fans: "We can still win the Craven Shield."

Eagles failed to build the lead they wanted from the home leg of their three-part final on Saturday, out-pointing Oxford just 41-40 with depleted Poole back on 27.

Pedersen, in what he reckoned to be his 110th meeting of the season, led the hosts with four wins from four and Adam Shields and Mark Loram added ten points apiece.

But it took back-to-back 5-1s from Shields and Dean Barker to force Eagles in front and Oxford would have won the meeting had they finished ahead of Pedersen in the final heat.

Not that that was ever going to happen, of course.

Pedersen has confirmed himself as one of Arlington's all-time greats this season and received a hero's ovation when he spoke to the crowd from the centre green after the meeting.

He played his audience to perfection, telling them: "Of course I would like to come back next season if the crowd want me back."

The cheers that followed told their own story.

Everything Pedersen and the club have said indicates he will return in 2006 but possibly not as a Craven Shield champion after Saturday's result.

He later said: "I'm never disappointed with my own form but we could have done better as a team.

"We should have scored enough points to probably win the Craven Shield.

"There are two more meetings to go so I would not say we've lost it just yet but we definitely needed to do better than we did around Eastbourne."

Just like after the first leg of the Knockout Cup final, Eagles boss Jon Cook was disappointed not to have built a bigger lead to take on the road.

The three-team format of the Shield, however, offers an extra dimension to team racing and the key for Eagles now is to enhance their lead over Oxford at Poole on Wednesday before the third leg at Sandy Lane 24 hours later.

They probaly need to outscore the Silver Machine by at least six points on Wednesday, though no one is setting any specific targets.

Cook said: "We'll take what we can get. We are certainly still in it.

"I'm disappointed but it has still been a very good season and there's plenty to race for this week."

Poole can still have a big say, even if they fail to mount a serious challenge to retain their trophy.

On Saturday, the six head-to-head heats between Eagles and Oxford finished 18-18 but Eastbourne won because of the extra point they took off the Pirates.

The maximum posted by Shields and Barker against Oxford's Billy Hamill and Henka Gustafsson in heat 15 could turn out to be precious.

The Eagles pair had already grabbed a 5-1 over Poole's Joonas Kylmakorpi and Greg Phillips and they did it again in thrilling style as Shields set the pace and Barker won a scintillating tussle with Hamill for second place.

There were probably a few Eagles fans quietly supporting the old enemy from Poole at times and Bjarne Pedersen and Eastbourne asset Kylmakorpi did most to keep Oxford in check after guest Jason Lyons suffered a hand injury.

For Eagles, Andrew Moore rode better than his two points would indicate but Davey Watt continues to be out of touch and the suspicion remains it will be one of Pedersen's Danish compatriots who ends up celebrating on Thursday.

Niels Kristian Iversen top scored for Oxford and said: "That was a good meeting for us.

"Let's see how we go at Poole but it's to our advantage that we have the last meeting of the three at home.

"Poole has been an up and down track for us but it seems all our riders are getting pretty good scores right now and we hope that carries on."