PLYMOUTH Devils' flickering hopes of retaining the National Trophy were finally snuffed out by bogey team Newport Hornets in a meeting punctuated with controversy, a hint of farce and probably some of the finest racing ever witnessed at the St Boniface Arena.

Devils simply had to beat the visitors to stand any chance of keeping hold of the trophy they won with such conviction last season and in the end, they weren't quite up to the job.

The city outfit were not helped when David Gough, who has just returned to Plymouth after a substantial lay-off due to a serious shoulder injury, piled into hoardings in heat seven and was whisked off to hospital with a suspected broken ankle.

They could also question – and it was loudly questioned by a section of the crowd – some of the refereeing decisions which allowed Hornets riders to have another crack after halting a heat by falling off, yet see one of their riders excluded from the re-run for doing pretty much the same thing.

Perhaps the oddest spectacle off all was to see track officials use elastic as a starting gate when the machinery intended for that purpose developed a magnetic fault which rendered it useless.

They eventually gave up on that idea after it became obvious elastic wasn't a great deal of use when it came to keeping impatient speedway riders in a starting line and relied on a green light instead.

That scheme wasn't much more successful, judging by the number of riders who jumped the light, but it was either that or abandon the meeting.

When the meeting wasn't interrupted by the various distractions, the racing was nothing short of magnificent.

Newport had beaten Devils twice earlier in the season and the home side were far from eager to make it a third time unlucky.

The fact that they failed by narrowest of margins should not detract from a Devils performance which was occasionally nothing short of superhuman, at least in speedway terms. Plymouth were outgunned by former Devils Lee Smart and Tim Webster, who were the difference between the two sides.

Smart was the rider of the night without any doubt, although Webster wasn't that far behind him.

Having said that, Plymouth's rising stars – Jaimie Pickard, Ben Reade and Matt Bates, plus the seniors riders, Mark Simmonds, Seemond Stephens and Nicki Glanz – made the visitors scrap for every point and were never outclassed.

Smart won the first heat to help his team to a 3-3 result, a scoreline that was to become depressingly familiar for the Devils on Friday evening. Either Smart or Webster just scored enough points to stop Devils winning a heat overall until Nicki Glanz's victory in six.

Reade had won heat two – his first heat win with the Devils – but the unlucky Gough had been disqualified for falling off, leaving the two Hornets riders to claim three of the six points on offer.

In truth, the Devils didn't quite have the firepower to kill off the visitors, who always did just enough to either stay two points ahead, or level on points with their hosts.

In all, Devils won just three heats from 15, Plymouth man of the match Glanz recording two more victories in 10 and 15. By contrast, Hornets won six. The rest were draws.

Of Newport's heat victories, Smart bagged one of them, while Webster recorded two. In terms of pure race wins, Smart was first five times, picking up nearly a third of Hornets' points.

Devils chairman Mike Bowden apologised to the fans for the first starting gate failure at St Boniface in the five years Plymouth have been going and promised adequate back-up facilities for the next meeting.

But he admitted his side had been beaten by the better side on the night.

He said: "The Hornets put in a splendid display of riding and they were the better team.

"We've ended our interest in the trophy now and we've got to focus our interest on the league and the play-offs."

Plymouth Devils...44 Newport Hornets...46

Scorers

Devils: Nicki Glanz 13 (5 rides), Jaimie Pickard 6+2 (4), Matt Bates 5+2 (4), Seemond Stephens 9 (5), Mark Simmonds 8+1 (4). Reserves: David Gough 0 (2), Ben Reade 3 (6).

Newport: Lee Smart 14 (5), Luke Priest (rider replacement), Tim Webster 9 (5), Tony Atkin 4 (4), Kyle Newman 7 (5). Reserves: James White-Williams 10+1 (7), Tom Young 2+2 (4).