OXFORD Spires’ Premiership play-off hopes suffered a blow by losing 54-36 away against Belle Vue Aces.

The result saw Belle Vue win the aggregate bonus point by 91-89, after Spires won the corresponding meeting by 16 points on home shale last week.

After two 4-2s to Aces, Charles Wright fought back under Ben Cook in Heat 3, and joined Maciej Janowski for a 5-1 that levelled the scores at 9-9.

Spires kept it level after Chris Harris won Heat 4, after winning a battle with Dan Bewley, and Rohan Tungate flew past Jaimon Lidsey to win Heat 5.

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Belle Vue then moved six points ahead, before Luke Killeen prevented Aces extending their lead in Heat 8, when he moved inside Jake Mulford and created room for Erik Riss to move through the gap, as Spires salvaged a 3-3.

Harris and Wright won the next two races, with Wright inflicting the only defeat of the evening on Brady Kurtz in Heat 10, before Aces moved eight points ahead with a 4-2 in Heat 11.

Oxford team manager Peter Schroeck introduced Tungate as a tactical substitute in Heat 12, but Lidsey defeated him and Janowski in a 3-3.

That largely extinguished Spires’ hopes of a victory on the night, while Oxford’s aggregate lead was cut to four when Bewley won a battle for second place with Tungate, to join Kurtz for a 5-1 in Heat 13.

Aces took a 4-2 in Heat 14, with a valiant effort by Killeen in a battle for third place with Antti Vuolas just falling short.

There were some enthralling races during the evening, but nothing quite matched Heat 15, even though it didn’t go the way that Spires wanted.

Janowski was the early leader, before Kurtz took over at the front. It was all change on the opening bends of lap two, with Bewley moving to first, while Janowski and Tungate relegated Kurtz to fourth.

Kurtz was not to be denied though, and rode a wall of death around the outside to sweep past both Spires at the end of the second lap.

Kurtz then got even closer to the fence on the fourth bend of the third lap, and almost binned his bike, but he regained control as Aces snatched the bonus point with a 5-1.

While Spires remain four points ahead of Leicester Lions in the league table, in the battle for the all-important fourth place, Lions have four matches in hand, but only one of those is at home.

Schroeck said: “It’s very deflating to come here with a 16-point lead and not take away the aggregate bonus point.

“We didn’t really lose it in Heat 13 or 15, you know what can happen in those races around here when Belle Vue have their big guns out.”