THEY were oh so near, yet so very far.

Up until Saturday night there appeared more chance of Hull City staying in the Premiership than Panthers doing themselves justice on the road - but not any more.

Before this visit to Sussex a 56-37 reverse at Lakeside had actually been the city club's best performance on the road in a 2008 campaign already full of miserable journeys and painful viewings.

And given Panthers were crushed by a whopping 24 points at the same venue when operating with their full compliment of riders back in March, this result - achieved without two potential key men in Kenneth Bjerre and Morten Risager - represented major progress.

"We finished up one second place short of pulling off a great result," said team manager Trevor Swales, who visibly enjoyed being able to speak glowingly about his side after an away outing.

"Every single rider contributed to a fine effort and I have not been this heartened by a Panthers performance all season.

"The fight is back, the desire is back and we proved we are no pushovers despite what a lot of people might have said and thought."

Panthers were never more than eight points adrift (a plight they found themselves in after conceding back-to-back 5-1s in heats nine and 10) but battled back valiantly to take this tussle right down to the wire.

In the end the patched-up city side needed a 4-2 advantage from the final chapter to force a draw or even better to snatch the spoils, but despite falling short they silenced plenty of critics and raised even more sets of eyebrows.

Captain Hans Andersen did his best to show that Britain has not got talent by twice trimming up new national champion Scott Nicholls around his own Arlington manor - and Andersen also found the time to give British GP wildcard Edward Kennett a taste of his own medicine.

Kennett claimed Andersen's scalp when the pair met in heat seven thanks to some aggressive first corner riding in which he ran the Panthers man hard towards the fence.

Lesser riders would have bailed out and bit the dust hoping for the referee to come to their rescue, but Andersen manfully accepted defeat in that contest and exacted his revenge when they renewed acquaintances in the 11th instalment.

This time it was the Panthers star with the inside gate and his turn to return the compliment by taking Kennett so wide that he dropped to the back and was powerless to prevent Andersen and partner Henning Bager from banking a much-needed 5-1 maximum.