Brave Wolves lost popular Pole Adam Skornicki to a heat three horror crash yet still prised a draw out of one of the Elite League’s fortress stadia.

Apart from a big loss to Poole when top two Hans Andersen and Peter Karlsson pulled out through injury, the Aces haven’t dropped a single home point to any team this season – except the one from Monmore Green.

And while this riveting draw deservedly lifted Wolves to second spot in the table, it could so easily have been a win.

Wolves, four points up with four heats remaining, lost no fewer than THREE places to last-gasp passes on the line.

Matthew Wethers – and what a seamless transition he’s made to top-flight racing – made a slight error on the final turn exit in heat 12, allowing James Wright to strike.

But it was old fox Peter Karlsson who helped salvage the day for Belle Vue. Fredrik Lindgren took heat 13, inflicting the sole defeat of the night on Andersen. But PK, last year’s title-winning skipper with Wolves, eased through off the last bend as Tai Woffinden continued to blast round the boards in pursuit of Andersen.

Wethers’ nerveless victory in the penultimate race left Wolves needing a shared final heat to take the win.

This time it was Andersen who led with Lindgren second and Woffinden again taking the wide line ahead of Karlsson.

The veteran nosed his way ahead but the Wolves’ skipper, totally committed, somehow wrested back the advantage. Yet with seemingly every travelling Wolves fan urging him to clamp PK to the line on the final turn, Woffinden opted to stay out and the old maestro again made him pay, getting up on the line to snatch the draw.

Karlsson, ironically, was only in the race because referee Craig Ackroyd spotted that original nominee Leigh Lanham was not eligible, having scored insufficient points from his programmed rides.

But it was a fitting denouement to a gripping match – and any black and gold supporter who saw Woffinden’s first ride in heat four would probably forgive him anything.

Stone last out of the gate as Ludvig Lindgren shot to the front, Woffinden made a nonsense of the perceived wisdom that going wide at Kirkmanshulme Lane is folly.

He sprinted round Leigh Lanham on the fourth corner of the first lap and then repeated the dose to account for Karlsson at the same spot two circuits later; a stunning ride.

It was a part of the track that had seen far less happy  action just one race earlier, Skornicki attempting to round Patrick Hougaard but clipping his back wheel and bringing both men down.

The enforced absence of ‘Sqora’ put added pressure on the Wolves reserves – and how they responded.

The younger Lindgren, smooth and stylish, continued the good work commenced in the home match with the Aces on Monday.

And when he faded late in the meeting it was the turn of the laconic Wethers to come to the fore, slicing his way to the front in heat nine with a startling second bend manoeuvre.

Ty Proctor and Nicolai Klindt also chipped in and Wolves might well have won this meeting – they led by eight points at one time. But this was two points gained rather than one lost.

By Tim Hamblin