Eastbourne 47, Oxford 43

GRESHAM Oxford Cheetahs made Eastbourne panic on Saturday as they took the Eagles to a dramatic last-heat decider at Arlington Stadium.

Cheetahs saw a two-point lead turned into a six-point deficit by heat eight when Steve Johnston and Jan Staechmann made an excellent gate, but Peter Nahlin got hooked up with Staechmann and went hurtling into the safety fence.

Nahlin, who was already nursing a shoulder injury, took no further part in the meeting and the Eagles were forced into using their track reserve Scott Swain.

The home side hit straight back in heat nine with a 5-1 and then followed that up with a 4-2 to go eight points up. In heat 13, against the previously unbeaten Martin Dugard, Jason Crump and Paul Hurry pulled off a stunning victory.

It was all square going in to the 15th and final heat.

Crump and Johnston lined up against Dugard and Stefan Andersson, but it was not to be as the Eagles jumped out of the gate and left Crump in their wake. Cheetahs Cubs beat Eastbourne Eaglets 21-15.

Eastbourne: Danno 5, Andersson 12+1, Norris 11+1, Dugard 14+2, Nahlin 5+1, Swain 0. 47pts.

Oxford: Crump 15+1, Johnston 8, Wiltshire 5+1, Hurry 7+1, Schofield 3+2, Staechmann 5+1. 43pts.

Heat 1: Crump, Danno, Johnston, Andersson 57.4secs. Heat 2: Nahlin, Staechmann, Schofield, Swain 57.3. Heat 3: Crump, Norris, Danno, Wiltshire 56.5. Heat 4: Dugard, Nahlin, Hurry, Staechmann 56.7. Heat 5: Norris, Andersson, Crump, Johnston (ef) 56.1. Heat 6: Andersson, Hurry, Schofield, Danno 56.2. Heat 7: Dugard, Johnston, Wiltshire, Nahlin 56.8. Heat 8: Johnston, Staechmann, Andersson, Swain, Nahlin (f) 56.2. Heat 9: Norris, Dugard, Schofield, Hurry (f) 56.5. Heat 10: Andersson, Hurry, Danno, Wiltshire 56.3. Heat 11: Dugard, Johnston, Crump, Swain 55.9. Heat 12: Crump, Norris, Wiltshire, Swan 56.0. Heat 13: Crump, Hurry, Dugard, Danno 56.2. Heat 14: Wiltshire, Norris, Staechmann, Swain 56.2. Heat 15: Andersson, Dugard, Crump, Johnston (ef) 56.2.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.