By Ky Capel - Dorset Echo

Jem Dicken and his Wildcats were left "gutted" after last night's narrow Conference League defeat at the hands of league leaders the Scunthorpe Saints. Jon Armstrong put in a tremendous effort to claim 16 paid one points for the Wildcats but an "abundance" of bad luck in their opening meeting of the 2008 league campaign left team manager Dicken reflecting on what might have been.

He said: "Unlucky is not the word to describe it, we're all gutted because we should have won by ten points. Kyle Newman fell off when in second place while Karl Mason and Jay Herne both snapped chains. In the last heat decider we needed a 4-2 to win, Jay got knocked off but was then excluded and while we were looking after him, unknown to us, the referee had set the time allowance for the re-run and in the end Jon Armstrong had to run off 15 metres because of it. So what was going to be a really good race was spoilt by the ref, and Scunthorpe thought that too. However, we also lost the meeting ourselves and all the boys are disappointed but we will take the positives from it. The boys are clicking well and that bodes well for the rest of the season."

The Wildcats made the perfect start to the meeting with Armstrong and Brendan Johnson notching a 5-1 maximum. But after the third race both teams were level pegging and it stayed that way until heat eight when the Saints took the meeting by the scruff of the neck. Luke Priest and Kyle Newman, on his return from a collarbone break, were both suffering in the early heats which did not help the visitors' cause but Herne and Armstrong kept Weymouth in with a good shout.

In heat eight a maximum for the Saints gave the hosts a 26-22 advantage, and one they failed to relinquish for the remainder. Bike problems for Herne at the start of heat nine enabled Scunthorpe to record another maximum and they went 12 points in front with a third consecutive 5-1 in race ten. The Wildcats chose to play their tactical ride for heat 11 where Armstrong donned the black and white helmet. Good support from Johnson saw the visitors claim an 8-1 success and reduce the deficit to five. Heat 12 was shared 3-3 with Tim Webster just edged out into second place. But in the next race Herne and Armstrong flew past Jonathon Bethall on the first lap to claim a maximum haul and give themselves a great chance with just one point now separating the two sides. Skipper Karl Mason won heat 14 but unfortunately for the Wildcats Newman placed fourth so the difference remained one.

Lady Luck was not shining on the Weymouth duo of Herne and Armstrong in the deciding heat as the former was excluded for falling on the first bend while the latter had to go off the 15-metre mark after missing the two-minute time allowance. The Wildcats' number one fought hard but was just pipped to the chequered flag by Byron Bekker.

Full heat details are available here and photos here