OXFORD Spires’ hopes of reaching the Premiership play-offs are all but over after a 53-37 defeat at Leicester Lions.

The first six races saw Leicester build up a 12-point lead, with back-to-back 5-1s in Heats 5 and 6.

Spires fought back though with a 4-2 for Charles Wright and Maciej Janowski in Heat 7.

Janowski then won Heat 9, while Chris Harris battled past Luke Becker into second place, to join him for a 5-1.

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Another 5-1 followed in Heat 10, as Janowski and Wright moved either side of Richard Lawson early in the race, as Spires reduced the deficit to just two points.

The Lions though came back, although Janowski charged from third to first to win Heat 12.

Leicester finished with two 5-1s and a 4-2 though. Janowski top-scored for Spires with 15 points from seven outings.

The Lions moved up to second in the table, while stretching their unbeaten run to nine meetings.

Fifth-placed Spires can still reach 31 points, the same tally that fourth-placed Belle Vue Aces are currently on, but Aces have a much superior race points difference, and are almost guaranteed an aggregate bonus point against Ipswich Witches, and that would put them out of reach of Spires.

Oxford team manager Peter Schroeck said: “We’ve battled to the end, in terms of trying to qualify for the play-offs.

“We closed right in at one point when it rained mid-meeting and we took two successive 5-1s, both involving Maciej, who had a fantastic meeting.

“Leicester have been in good form recently and pulled away again at the end of the meeting. The final scoreline was a bit of a kick in the teeth after the boys worked so hard to get back into the meeting.”