The Oxford Silver Machine went down to a 58-37 defeat to Poole Pirates at Wimborne Road.

After a series of rain-offs, Oxford looked decidedly rusty and were never really at the races in this Elite League clash.

They got off to a horrendous start as the home side kicked off with a perfect maximum heat win, followed by another in heat three.

A further 4-2 to the Pirates in the fourth heat saw Oxford 12 points adrift and boss Nigel Wagstaff wasted no time in introducing Greg Hancock as a tactical ride in the fifth.

Hancock did his job, getting his first win of the night for six points, but Travis McGowan was relegated to last, reducing the number of points pulled back to just three, still nine behind.

The visitors then set about some damage limitation and rode hard for two drawn heats, with Ryan Sullivan being relegated to the back in heat seven.

Wagstaff then had another go at reducing the deficit by putting Niels-Kristian Iversen in as a tactical rider in heat eight.

In a tough first turn, Poole's Krzystof Kasprazak took the lead and from there, Iversen never had a chance on a super slick track which was not conducive to passing.

McGowan was relegated to last place, meaning that it was another drawn heat.

Another shared heat followed, before the Pirates hit Oxford for their third maximum of the night.

The whole focus then changed to bagging as many points as possible to give the Silver Machine some hope of grabbing the bonus point when the Pirates visit Cowley on Friday evening.

Iversen came into replace McGowan in the next heat and along with Ryan Fisher, helped Oxford to another shared heat, but the meeting was officially lost in the 12th.

The Pirates scored a 4-2 to take their score to 46, with the Silver Machine 15 behind and slowly sinking.

Iversen came out again in the 13th - his third ride on the trot - and it proved too much as he was unable to make any impression. With Bjarne Pedersen beating Hancock at the front, the Silver Machine had fallen even further behind.

Another maximum for Poole in the penultimate heat left Oxford trailing by 19 points and a shared heat in the last leaves them with it all to do at Sandy Lane on Friday.