BATTERED and bruised Peterborough went down to a 50-40 defeat at the hands of Belle Vue on a tough night at the East of England Arena.
Crendon Panthers boss Carl Johnson has to use just one rider in some heats after losing both Josh Bates and Charles Wright.
Bates was knocked out in Heat 2 when he hit the back straight fence and Wright suffered a dislocated shoulder after going under the air fence in the next.
It was a brave effort by the city side after those incidents in their last home meeting before September.
Ty Proctor equalled Danny King’s track record in the opening heat and the recent signing won three heats.
Johnson had to juggle his programme and did a fine job as Panthers dug deep and it was only a 5-1 to the Aces in Heat 13 which gave them any feeling of confidence in the outcome.
They, to be fair to them, lost Dan Bewley with a dead leg after his opening ride when he was brought down by Wright and Mark Lemon has to use the injury rider replacement rule.
Boss Johnson said: “That was a tough night at the office and we wish the injured lads all the best.
“I’m proud of the riders for what they did. We stuck at our task after losing Josh and Charles.
“I tried to stay as positive as possible and I cannot fault my riders, none of them. They have it their all.
“We’ll have to wait for an update on Josh and Charles but they were a big loss tonight and we hope there’s nothing long term with them, fingers crossed.
“We didn’t see the best racing we’ve had this season but the track record was equalled and we can take some positives going forward.”
PETERBOROUGH 40: Ricky Wells 12, Scott Nicholls 10+2, Ty Proctor 10, Rohan Tungate 6+2, Erik Riss 2+1, Charles Wright 0, Josh Bates 0. BELLE VUE 50: Kenneth Bjerre 15, Max Fricke 10+3, Dimitri Berge 9+3, Jaimon Lidsey 7+1, Steve Worrall 6, Nikolaj Busk Jakobsen 3, Dan Bewley 0.