King's Lynn ace Mads Korneliussen was in impressive form at Brandon on Thursday night. Picture: Ian Burt.

King’s Lynn will race into next week’s Elite League play-offs on the back of a draw at Coventry last night.

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Rob Lyon’s now go into Monday’s semi-final showdown with injury-threatened Poole at the Norfolk Arena having added two more points to their total after the 45-45 result.

As warm-ups for a big night go, this should have been the ideal scenario for the Stars, as they ran into a home side without either of their top two riders – but tricky track conditions made this meeting one of survival just as much as victory.

Coventry’s absences included GB international Edward Kennett, who has been banned since mid-August for silencer irregularities, whilst their Russian star Emil Sayfutdinov was missing due to a fixture clash in his home country.

With the Bees not permitted to replace their top man with a credible guest of Elite League standard, let alone the class of Sayfutdinov, it should have been left to the Stars’ big guns to dominate the meeting – especially after the home side were reduced to four riders in Heat 6, Kenni Larsen crashing out with a wrist injury and Sayfutdinov’s replacement, youngster Todd Kurtz, also injured.

But with Kenneth Bjerre hitting trouble in Heat 5 and Niels-Kristian Iversen incurring the wrath of the starting marshal and being penalised 15 metres for delaying the start of the next, the home side did battle hard to stay in the meeting.

Their prime threat came from 17-year-old reserve Nick Morris, whilst Mads Korneliussen was outstanding for the Stars as he gained reward for attacking the track and continually clocked the fastest times of the meeting until Przemyslaw Pawlicki went even quicker in Heat 11, with the Dane then beating it again in the last race.

Lynn skipper Olly Allen fell in his first ride and was sensibly circumspect thereafter, and the home side edged in front when Ryan Fisher rounded Iversen in Heat 9 with Stars levelling the scores thanks to Korneliussen’s third win in the next race.

Coventry briefly went four points to the good, but Bjerre and Iversen brought the Stars level in Heat 13, before Korneliussen again rode superbly to take the lead of Heat 14 on the last lap.

They looked likely to win the match in the decider but had to be content with a draw as Iversen ground to a halt on the first lap, with Korneliussen completing a brilliant maximum up-front.

• COVENTRY 45: Nick Morris 14+1, Ryan Fisher 13+2, Przemyslaw Pawlicki 11+2, Piotr Pawlicki 5, Kenni Larsen 2, Todd Kurtz 0, Edward Kennett r/r.

• KING’S LYNN 45: Mads Korneliussen 15, Niels-Kristian Iversen 10, Kenneth Bjerre 6+2, David Howe 6, Filip Sitera 3+1, Olly Allen 3, Sam Masters 2+1.