Berwick Bandits' hopes of victory against Edinburgh Monarchs are punctured by a flat tyre

On an evening when the gap between the sides never exceeded four points, every battle was vital, none more so than in heat 13 with Flint again the victim.

Having lost original partner Thomas Jorgensen when the Dane was sucked into the tapes, he seemed to have split the visiting big guns only for Josh Pickering to overhaul him on the run from the fourth bend to the chequered flag, the 5-1 with Craig Cook levelling the scores.

Pickering had also picked off Lee Complin in heat 11 after a race-long scrap, the pass restricting Berwick’s lead to four points.

Cook earned his first referee’s warning in nine, Flint roaring away from him at the second attempt and Jye Etheridge, enjoying another fruitful night against his first British employers, filled in third to break a deadlock which had lasted six heats.

Jonas Knudsen then produced the type of scorching gate he has struggled to find this season to leave Kye Thomson trailing, the all-action Complin keeping hard-working guest Jason Edwards at bay.

It put Berwick seemingly in the driving seat of a meeting in which they had recovered from a dreadful start, Knudsen and Jorgensen on the wrong end of a heat one 5-1 at the hands of Pickering and impressive first-time visitor Bastian Borke.

Borke gave Flint a real test in three but the Bandit just kept him at bay after an epic battle, Etheridge’s tapes-to-flag victory levelling the scores.

Which is how they would stay for the next six heats, the racing once again superb on a night when those viewing either in person or via BSN got their money’s worth entertainment wise.

Etheridge shut the door in no uncertain terms on his countryman Pickering to win five, but despite his best efforts Flint could not find a way past Borke.

Once again Cook had arrived at Shielfield Park mounted on a rocket ship, winning six at a canter while Thomson was a surprise winner of seven as Jorgensen was again slow to get away from the tapes.

Knudsen and Connor Coles had no such problems in eight but Borke had the speed off bend two to power past the home pairing down the back straight.

Which set up the grand finale as Berwick first built up a lead and then saw it whittled away before disappearing in heartbreaking fashion.

In Borke Edinburgh had that little extra in the engine room which, only just, prevailed.

Berwick team manager Scott Courtney said: “Look, you’re never happy with a home defeat and the manner in which heat 15 ended makes it an even more bitter pill to swallow.

“Edinburgh led after heat one and heat 15, for the rest of the night there was nothing to choose between two very competitive sides.

“We worked hard to open up that four point gap but just couldn’t get it across the line.

“It now means that we need to look at repeating our early season performance at Armadale on Friday night and then finally beat the Redcar hoodoo the following night.

“The season is far from over and we’ll come back swinging.”