Injury problems are piling up for Eastbourne Eagles after they suffered a heavy derby defeat last night.

Eagles went down 57-36 at at Lakeside Hammers in their first away Elite League meeting since Good Friday.

They were forced to operate rider-replacement after David Norris was ruled out by a back problem.

Then skipper Davey Watt pulled out of the meeting after just two rides with a groin injury.

Eagles were already missing Simon Gustafsson with a broken collarbone and the absence of the big-scoring reserve was felt more keenly than ever.

Team manager Trevor Geer said: “Davey sort of did the splits on the bike in his first ride and pulled his groin. He was going through the motions in his second ride.

“We are hoping it is not too serious and both he and David will ride against Swindon on Monday.”

The visitors were left with previous few options to cover for their injured riders.

Gustafsson’s replacement Chris Schramm failed to score from four tough races and Ricky Kling struggled back at his old home track.

Lewis Bridger opened in scintillating fashion with two wins but scored just one point from his subsequent four rides, one of which was four double points.

That left Geer mystified.

He said: “Lewis looked unbeatable for two rides. He passed Lee Richardson and made it look easy.

“Then he couldn’t do anything for the rest of the night.

“He has taken his engine out and there has to be something wrong there.”

Cameron Woodward later took white and black and produced Eagles’ ride of the night to help Kling home for an 8-1 over Kauko Nieminen and Stewart Robson.

By then, however, the visitors were 20 points down and out of the contest.

Lakeside had six 5-1s, including three in succession midway through the meeting as they preserved their unbeaten home record.

Former Eagles stars Adam Shields and Richardson were both within a point of paid maximums.

Richardson fell victim to Bridger early on and Shields was beaten by Lukas Dryml, whose eight-point haul on his least favourite track was arguably the night’s highlight for Eastbourne.

Eagles are without Gustafsson until next month and will put a guest on standby in case both Watt and Norris are ruled out of Monday’s televised clash with title favourites Swindon at Arlington (7.30pm).

Lakeside: Richardson 13+1 (5), Davidsson 12+1 (5), Shields 11+3 (5), Nieminen 10 (5), Mear 6+2 (5), Robson 5+2 (5), Kylmakorpi r/r.

Eagles: Woodward 12 (6)^, Dryml 8 (5), Kling 7+2 (7), Bridger 7 (6)^, Watt 2 (2), Schramm 0 (4), Norris r/r.