CRADLEY suffered their second defeat of the season as they went down 51-39 against Coventry at Brandon.
The Motor Market Heathens paid the price for a nightmare start as they were forced to leave their second successive away meeting empty handed.
They lost reserve Bradley Andrews to a foot injury in heat two and were 10 points behind within the first three races, with their determined efforts not enough to earn a National League point.
It was a night to forget for Will Pottinger’s side as the determined Storm earned their first win of the campaign – and he admitted he was disappointed with the performance of his side.
Pottinger said: “It was a bad night at the office, we dropped too many points in the first three heats and couldn’t quite manage to recover from that slow start.
“It’s disappointing to go home empty handed, and it’s frustrating when you look at all the points we dropped.
“Maybe with a bit more luck we could have got a consolation point, but nothing seemed to go our way.
“Ashley Morris did a great job and Ben Morley stepped in and did well too, so we don’t want to be too negative.
“We need to try and get back to winning ways on Monday against the Isle of Wight, and we’ll be working hard to try and make sure we do that.
“It was a shame to lose Bradley (Andrews) who hurt his foot, so we’ll have to wait and see what the verdict is to see if he’ll be fit for Monday.”
No.1 Ashley Morris led by example to go unbeaten in his final four rides, being involved in all three Cradley 5-1s as they frantically battled to snatch a consolation point.
He was partnered in heats 13 and 15 by Ben Morley, who put in a strong showing as he guested for Max Clegg and was denied a race win by bike troubles on the final lap of heat nine.
However, Luke Chessell was the only other Heathens rider to win a race when he majestically swooped around Dan Greenwood to hit the front in heat 10.
His middle order partner Jack Kingston endured a difficult evening, whilst Ben Basford took two rides to get going before finishing in encouraging fashion.
James Purchase, back in action after his short lay-off, battled valiantly but earned little reward as he was forced to take seven rides after the early loss of reserve partner Andrews.
The Heathens will have a chance to quickly bounce back as they host the Isle of Wight at Monmore Green on Monday (7.30) looking to maintain their perfect home record.
COVENTRY 51: Martin Knuckey 11, Ryan Terry-Daley 9+3, Conor Dwyer 8+1, Liam Carr 7, Jamie Halder 6+1, Dan Greenwood 6, Callum Walker 4+2.
CRADLEY 39: Ashley Morris 12+2, Ben Morley 10, Luke Chessell 7, James Purchase 5+2, Ben Basford 4+1, Jack Kingston 1+1, Bradley Andrews 0.
