Eastbourne Eagles suffered their second away rain-off in succession when last night's Elite League encounter at Oxford was wiped out.

So now it's back to Arlington tomorrow night for two teams who need a win to give their season momentum.

In that sense, the force is with Eagles, who scored their first win in three matches when they beat Peterborough 51-40 last Saturday and now have home advantage.

Eastbourne boss Jon Cook is in no doubt that Oxford are the sort of team Eagles have to beat if they are to emerge as live title contenders.

But he admitted: "We can't underestimate them. They gave us two close matches last year. It's a definite banana skin."

Eagles will be hoping for another consistent display from Dean Barker, who is starting to find his feet after being hit by a virus and scored nine points against Peterborough.

His opposite number, Nigel Wagstaff, is already pressing the panic button, despite last week's shock 49-41 win away to Arena Essex which provided Oxford with their first success at the fourth attempt.

"I want our supporters to know it took up my entire weekend and all day Monday trying to make a move.

"Whoever comes in has got to hit the ground running," he has been quoted this week.

Any new signing, however, will not be in time to ride at Arlington, although Oxford will have Jesper B. Jensen making his debut in place of the injured Billy Hamill and Czech newcomer Michael Makovsky on stand-by for the Latvian Kjastas Poudzhuks.

Oxford had high hopes when they kicked off the season with former world champions Hamill and Greg Hancock in tandem, but Hamill was badly hurt in a crash at Swindon.

Niels-Kristian Iversen and Travis McGowan, could inflict plenty of damage, but Eagles should have the trump cards in Davey Watt and Steen Jensen in the reserve slots.

EASTBOURNE: David Norris, Andrew Moore, Adam Shields, Dean Barker, Nicki Pedersen, Steen Jensen, Davey Watt.

OXFORD: Greg Hancock, Travis McGowan, Lukas Dryml, Niels-Kristian Iversen, Jesper B. Jensen, Tom P. Madsen, K. Poudzhuks or M. Makovsky.