COVENTRY Buildbase Bees came agonisingly close to an away win at Foxhall Heath before again being edged out in a last-heat decider.

Captain Chris Harris and Rory Schlein had put in outstanding performances but were upstaged in the decider by home duo Piotr Swiderski and Jarek Hampel.

And Bees picked up another injury problem too, with Stan Burza pulling out after three rides with muscle damage to his back.

On the positive side, Olly Allen returned from a shoulder problem and gave a solid performance at second-string, teaming up with Harris for an opening-heat 5-1 over Swiderski.

The absence of Billy Janniro was costly in the first half of the meeting with the Witches gradually opening up an advantage, before Harris brought Bees back into play with a firm pass of Tobias Kroner to win Heat 11 for double-points.

Harris and Schlein then collected maximum points from Heat 13 to increase the pressure on the home side, and Andreas Messing held on to third place in the penultimate race behind Schlein and Kroner to leave Bees just three points adrift.

Unfortunately, Swiderski and Hampel had the final say as they roared from the gate and held off every move Harris could throw at them.

Bees manager Peter Oakes said: "We could be one decent-scoring reserve away at the moment - it's been our shortfall, and you only had to look at the scores tonight.

"Our top four outscored the opposition which tells the story of where the meeting was won and lost. But our reserves have shown they can do it, and if they could score five or six each we would be doing better, we just never seem to get them both going together.

"On the positive, Rory Schlein has scored double figures in each of his last four away meetings, Olly came through unscathed as well, and if every member of the team can beat his opposite number then we'll win meetings."

IPSWICH 50: Piotr Swiderski 14, Jarek Hampel 13+1, Tobias Kroner 13+1, Chris Schramm 4+1, Robert Miskowiak 4+1, Steve Johnston 2+1, Chris Louis r/r.

BUILDBASE BEES 43: Chris Harris 14+1, Rory Schlein 14, Olly Allen 7+2, Simon Stead 5, Andreas Messing 2, Stan Burza 1, Billy Janniro r/r.

*BURZA has been ruled out of Friday's clash with Swindon at Brandon, and he will be replaced by Ben Barker.

The Robins have question marks over both of their reserves, who were involved in crashes as they were held to a home draw by Belle Vue on Thursday.

BUILDBASE BEES: Chris Harris, Billy Janniro r/r, Simon Stead, Olly Allen, Rory Schlein, Ben Barker, Andreas Messing.

SWINDON: Leigh Adams, Troy Batchelor r/r, Mads Korneliussen, James Wright, Travis McGowan, Manuel Hauzinger, Seb Alden.