PIRATES' Craven Shield destiny remains firmly in their own hands despite a gritty 10-point defeat at Arlington tonight.

After getting off to a brilliant start with a 5-1 victory in the opening race, a mid-meeting collapse saw Poole Castle Cover's hopes of victory in front of a 1,500 crowd disappear.

Locked at 12-12 after four heats, they fell foul of four commanding Eastbourne 5-1s that put the meeting beyond their reach as they trailed 38-22 with only five races to go.

But with Bjarne Pedersen (13), Freddie Eriksson (9+3), Davey Watt (8), Adam Skornicki (6+2) and Chris Holder (5+2) digging deep, and only Zibi Suchecki failing to impress, Pirates trimmed that back to 52-42 by the end.

Using the old Elite League rules, Eastbourne would have clinched a 95-93 aggregate win in a last-heat decider.

However, there are no bonus points in the league or Craven Shield this year.

So it means if either Poole or Swindon can grab an away draw and win at home in their two meetings on Wednesday and Thursday, they will overhaul Eagles at the top of Group A and qualify for the semis or final.

And the Dorset club, joint favourites to lift the league title with the bookmakers, will believe they can beat new look Swindon, who are thought to be no better than mid-to-lower table by the experts, if the points are added up over the two meetings.

Six-man Pirates, to be honest, looked very ordinary as they slipped 16 points behind inside 10 races on a freezing cold evening in Sussex.

Pedersen bounced back to more like his impressive 2007 form after a slow start for Poole this year.

But Watt injured a hand in a heat three spill, and Holder was fortunate to escape serious injury when he took a spectacular tumble in race six on his first visit, competitive or practice, to Arlington.

Edward Kennett's ugly fall and exclusion on the first bend in heat 11 after clashing with Skornicki halted Eastbourne's progress towards a big win.

He was forced to withdraw from the meeting with heavy bruising to his right arm, and Pedersen and Skornicki got an 8-1 in the re-run to lift Poole's spirits.

Watt and Eriksson, who excelled all night, got a 5-2 in the penultimate race to close the deficit further.

It means Poole, with or without injured Karol Zabik, must try and beat Swindon by at least 12 points at Wimborne Road on Wednesday to put themselves in the driving seat to qualify.

With the group so finely balanced, race points difference is likely to come into play with Eastbourne currently on plus seven, Poole on minus two and Swindon on minus five, with Eagles having finished their fixtures.