Veteran guest rider Neil Collins provided Newport Wasps with a little sunshine on yet another dark afternoon when they were beaten by Stoke Potters in the Premier League at the Hayley Stadium yesterday.

Collins, the Somerset Rebels rider who is a Stoke asset, stepped in for Mads Korneliussen, who was in Finland for the World Under-21 championship quarter-finals.

Collins, who impressed while riding for Somerset on the South Wales track earlier in the season, scored 12 points plus a bonus point from five rides - and it should have been more.

Wily Collins, 42, was twice pipped on the line and on the first occasion there were few, if any, who agreed with referee Paul Ackroyd's verdict. He awarded heat 12 to Robbie Kessler ahead of Collins, who took a tactical ride.

Neil Street, Wasps' team manager, said: "He won that heat by a good half-wheel. The decision was too silly for words. I had filled in my programme and had to change it. Neil rode superbly for us."

Tim Stone, Newport promoter, said: "He won that heat. We picked a cracking guest and he was in the most exciting races of the meeting.

"The other bright spot for us was the return to form of Pavel Ondrasik, while Barrie (Evans) was very nervous at the start. He did ride better as the meeting progressed and I am sure he will bring us more points."

Collins said: "Even the Stoke promoter (Dave Tattum) couldn't believe it because Robbie had turned and went back to the pits. He knew I had won it, and for the referee to make that decision was unbelievable."

Two heats later Collins was again pipped on the line, this time by Alan Mogridge, but there were no complaints on this occasion. Collins, from the outside gate, took the lead but had to settle for second place. Wasps captain Craig Watson said: "Neil is such an experienced rider and we were lucky to have him. We couldn't have had a better guest."

Watson had a top-scoring 15-point haul, plus a bonus from five rides - helped on his way by a six-point tactical ride as early as heat seven, when Wasps trailed by ten points.

And in the final heat he went down at the first turn from the tapes and had a heated exchange with Paul Pickering - and the referee who ruled an unsatisfactory start. Watson dusted himself and duly put Pickering in his place, winning the heat and leaving the Stoke rider at the back of the field.

Watson said: "I'm having a really expensive run at the moment, suffering damage in this meeting and guesting for Exeter against Stoke on Saturday night, and then riding for Sheffield. I don't think Paul left me enough room and I think he should have been excluded. I appreciate the referee didn't see it properly and it's just a shame the rider wasn't penalised for the damage."

But despite the last-heat win it still left Wasps 13 points and suffering an 11th straight defeat.

And the 12-point ride from Collins cannot paper over the cracks. Wasps rode with a three-man team. Carl Wilkinson and reserves Barrie Evans - brought in to take over at six from Luke Priest - and Karl Mason had two points between them from 13 rides. And they had to use rider replacement for Tony Atkin, sidelined with a broken arm. Sadly, the statistics speak for themselves.

Wasps: Pavel Ondrasik 12 (6), Carl Wilkinson 0 (3), Neil Collins 12+1 (5), Tony Atkin (rider replacement), Craig Watson 15+1 (5), Barrie Evans 1 (6), Karl Mason 1 (4). Potters: Paul Pickering 12 (5), Paul Clews 6+1 (4), Robbie Kessler 7+1 (4), Alan Mogridge 11+1 (5), Jan Steachmann 6 (3), Tom Brown 5+3 (4), Trent Leverington 7+2