The dream is over for the battling King's Lynn Stars who came up short just when it mattered.
They may have finished top of the Premiership table, but the play-offs can be cruel – and they had a twist in the tail for the Stars who saw their hopes of a first ever title shattered by the Poole Pirates.
The visitors arrived at the Adrian Flux Arena with a 16-point advantage after Monday's 53-37 first leg win at Wimborne Road – and it proved too big for the Stars who, despite winning 51-39, went down 92-88 on aggregate.
A big crowd began forming at the Adrian Flux Arena two hours before tapes up, desperate to see their Stars make club history.
They needed Lynn – who badly missed the injured Niels-Kristian Iversen and Michael Palm Toft – to get off to a flying start.
But the hosts struggled to make inroads – just when they needed to follow up a maximum, the Pirates popped up with one of their own to keep the Stars at arm's length. Lynn got the aggregate down to single figures by heat 12, but Poole sealed it in the penultimate race.
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