THIS was the night when it all went horribly wrong.

Panthers slumped to a home defeat for the first time since August 2006, saw their leading rider crash out of the meeting in a horror accident and had no answer to the lean, mean racing machines of Poole.

With club hero Hans Andersen ruled out but amazingly avoiding serious injury in his frightening heat six smash, Panthers were completely and utterly pulverised by a ruthless visiting side.

It is the sort of speedway nightmare which keeps team managers awake at night, but for Trevor Swales it became reality.

And it was all followed by a heated post-meeting forum exchange between Swales, co-promoter Mick Bratley and a fuming supporter before the curtain finally came down on a performance that Panthers hope will never be repeated.

"It is very ironic that Poole are the team to bring our record to an end as we did the same to them back in 2005," said Swales.

"Fair play to them because they came here with the intention of winning and although circumstances played a big part, they did the job.

"The fans have every right to their opinion but for one to accuse us of continually making excuses is wrong. There are reasons why we are not doing well and that is the fact we have too many people under-performing and we are not getting out of the gates.

"They're reasons and facts – not excuses."

In fact just about the only thing missing (apart from points for certain Panthers riders) was Homer Simpson to round off the night by screaming: "Doh!"

Andersen was certainly saying 'ouch' though after being left battered, bruised and decidedly second hand in the defining incident of the night.

Andersen's involvement came to an abrupt end after he inadvertently clipped the wheel of Poole man Davey Watt and spectacularly came to grief.

The signs were already ominous before Andersen's exit as Panthers found themselves in arrears and they were never likely to turn the contest around with the hero of recent times ruled out of the remainder of the meeting.

A hat-trick of 5-1s for the visitors – starting in the re-run of heat six as Andersen was climbing out of the ambulance – ended the contest long before Panthers were finally put out of their misery.

Despite being without their main source of points for the majority of proceedings, four heat victories and two heat advantages is still a paltry return for Panthers.

The city side were not helped by the traditional post-Truckfest troubles with the track and the fact they were only granted a couple of hours to work on the surface ahead of the meeting yesterday (the majority of the preparation work being done on Tuesday).

And nor was their cause aided by more indifferent performances from a team seemingly lacking in substance, spirit and scoring ability.

Only Kenneth Bjerre's emergence in the second half of the contest following a major interval track overhaul ensured Panthers were not completely annihilated.

He bagged successes in heats 13 and 15 to take his personal tally to 14 points but received no notable support as Danny King's half-dozen was the next highest entry onto the Panthers scorechart.

It is difficult not to feel sorry for Claus Vissing whose elevation into the main body of the city side has predictably stunted some eye-catching progress in the early weeks of the campaign.

While the aggression and desire of some riders has been publicly questioned by Swales, no-one can suggest Vissing ever gives anything less than 100 per-cent (in fact the hard-charger is sometimes guilty of trying that little bit too hard hence mishaps like his soft third heat fall).

Another man fitting that billing is Premier League guest Carl Wilkinson whose mammoth effort deserved far greater reward than 4+1 points.

The Scunthorpe rider completed a gruelling seven-ride shift and set an example in never-say-die racing that many more permanent members of the Panthers side could learn a lot from - and he did it all with 14 stitches in his back.

Meanwhile second string Morten Risager and reserve Henrik Moller have assumed the roles of biggest Panthers problems with Sam Simota sidelined for the majority – if not all – of the rest of the season.

Risager has not progressed as anticipated from teenage prodigy into top class rider and his eyebrow-raising inclusion in the Panthers side has not reaped rewards.

Fellow Dane Moller had shown signs of progress until recently but has now fired blanks in both matches this week.

"I couldn't get round the track and Poole were too good for me," manfully admitted Moller. But his honesty was probably not enough to appease a set of supporters becoming more fractious by the minute.

All is clearly not well and it is not difficult to work out why.

Panthers possess a 100 per-cent away record of the wrong kind and have now seen their previously unblemished home copybook defaced.

But senior Panthers figures are adamant the current troubles are not terminal and judging by the way the club has been transformed into one of the powers of British speedway under the Horton/Bratley/Swales/A-ndersen-led regime, they have to be given time to prove they are men of their word.

They now have a free fortnight in which to set about the job of turning the club's fortunes around and they should probably tune into some cheesy pop music while completing their work.

That's because 'the only way is up' and 'things can only get better'.

SCORES

Panthers

Hans Andersen 3 (3, fx, withdrew)
Morten Risager 4 (1, 1, 2)
Kenneth Bjerre 14 (2, 2, 4!, 3, 3)
Claus Vissing 4+2 (0, 1*, 1*, 2)
Danny King 6 (1, 1, 1^, 1, 2, 0)
Carl Wilkinson 4+1 (3, 0, 0, 1*, 0, 0, 0)
Henrik Moller 0 (ret, 0, 0)

Poole

Krzysztof Kasprzak 10+1 (2, 3, 3, 1, 1*)
Freddie Eriksson 4+2 (0, 0, 2*, 0, 2*)
Chris Holder 13 (3, 3, 3, 2, 2)
Rider replacement for Karol Zabik
Davey Watt 12 (3, 3, 3, 3)
Craig Watson 9+2 (2, 1, 2*, 0, 1*, 3)
Adam Skornicki 9+3 (1*, 2, 2*, 3, 1)

HEATS

1 – ANDERSEN (60.7), Kasprzak, Risager, Eriksson. 4-2, 4-2.
2 – WILKINSON (61.2), Watson, Skornicki, Moller (ret). 3-3, 7-5.
3 – HOLDER (60.2), Bjerre, Watson, Vissing (f/rem). 2-4, 9-9.
4 – WATT (60.0), Skornicki, King, Moller. 1-5, 10-14.
5 – KASPRZAK (60.8), Bjerre, Vissing, Eriksson. 3-3, 13-17.
6 – re-run - WATT (61.0), Watson, Risager, Andersen (fx). 1-5, 14-22.
7 – HOLDER (61.1), Skornicki, King, Wilkinson. 1-5, 15-27.
8 – SKORNICKI (61.4), Eriksson, King (t/s), Wilkinson. 1-5, 16-32.
9 – WATT (61.3), Bjerre (t/r), Vissing, Watson. 5-3, 21-35.
10 – HOLDER (60.3), Risager, Wilkinson, Eriksson. 3-3, 24-38.
11 – KASPRZAK (61.8), Eriksson, King, Wilkinson. 1-5, 25-43.
12 – BJERRE (60.9), Holder, Watson, Moller. 3-3, 28-46.
13 – WATT (61.1), King, Kasprzak, Wilkinson. 2-4, 30-50.
14 – WATSON (62.6), Vissing, Skornicki, Wilkinson. 2-4, 32-54.
15 – BJERRE (61.9), Holder, Kasprzak, King. 3-3, 25-57.
Key: * = paid points, ret = retired, fx = fell and excluded, f/rem = fell and remounted, ! And t/r = tactical ride, ^ and t/s = tactical substitute.

TOP CAT

Kenneth Bjerre came into his own in the second half of the contest to record his highest score of the season, but it won't live in the memory for long.

TOP RIDE

Carl Wilkinson announced his arrival at Alwalton in some style by scything through from third to first on his way to heat two victory.

TOP RACE

Most of the action occurred behind maximum man Davey Watt, so it should be no surprise that he missed all the drama unfold in heat nine when Panthers tactical ride Bjerre weaved his way from fourth to second to pocket four points with partner Claus Vissing keep Craig Watson at bay at the rear.