NEWPORT Wasps suffered a ten-point Premier Trophy defeat on the Isle of Wight last night.

But it is not beyond them to overturn the deficit and grab the bonus point in the return meeting at the Hayley Stadium tonight (tapes-up 7.0pm).

It was a hard-fought win for the Islanders over a dogged Newport team, superbly led by skipper Tony Atkin, pictured, maintaining his recent excellent form.

The 39-year-old showed the youngsters that he still has plenty of mileage left in him with a spectacular 13 paid 14 haul from seven starts. He was well backed up by Mads Korneliussen with 12. Neil Collins and guest Chris Neath who both recorded seven apiece.

The meeting started slowly but soon built up fast and in front of a large bank holiday crowd and there was plenty to keep them happy.

The Islanders were pretty solid throughout, with skipper Craig Boyce rattling up a 15-point maximum and smashing the track record in the process, although even he will admit he was rather fortunate in heat 13 when Korneliussen had the beating of him before grinding to a halt with machine problems.

After the first two heats the scores it was 6-6, but the Islanders went up a gear with a Krister Marsh/Ulrich Ostergaard 5-1 followed by four successive 4-2s.

With Glen Phillips back in the team, Boyce was well backed up by the remainder of the side with Tomas Suchanek having his best meeting so far with nine points.

Race of the night went to Phillips who stormed through from last to first over Atkin and Kristian Lund in heat eight to make the score 30-18.

Ostergaard may well have joined Boyce on a maximum but for a fall in heat nine when on a 5-1 with Marsh, this after the Wasps looked on for a 5-1 themselves before the Islanders pairing swooped either side of the visitors on turn two.

With a 12-points lead the Islanders seemed in cruise control, but a superb double points win for Korneliussen in a heat 11 reduced it to 39-30. And then Neil Collins had a good win in the following heat with Jansen, Atkin - on double points - and Marsh battling for the minor placings.

Islanders: Boyce 15, Phillips 4, Marsh 7, Ostergaard 8+1, Suchanek 9, Doyle 5+1, Jensen 4+1. Wasps: Korneliussen 12, Lund 2+2, Coles (rider replacement), Collins 7, Neath 7, Atkin 13+1, Ezergalis 1+1.