Coventry Bees crashed to a heavy 62-30 defeat in the opening leg of the Hokey-Cokey Cup tonight at Peterborough Panthers.
The Bees fielded a strong side but Nicky Pedersen and Troy Batchelor were allowed to record 12+1's as the Panthers won three of the opening five heats 5-1.
Heat six finished 3-3 before normal service was resumed with a 5-1 for the Panthers in the next heat.
Being 11-31 down, Coventry gave a tactical ride to Przemslaw Pawlicki who came second in heat eight to give the Bees a 5-3 win.
However, 4-2 wins for Peterborough in heats nine, eleven and thirteen and 5-1's in twelve and fifteen mean that Coventry will have to make up 33 points in Saturday's second leg at Brandon.