Count us in for the title race. That is the message from Eastbourne boss Jon Cook.

Victory over Ipswich in tomorrow night's match at Arlington Stadium, believes Cook, will put Eagles firmly in the Elite League championship picture.

He said: "It's been a season of ups and downs so far, but we have the best away record in the league. That counts for a lot, and if we can start rolling teams over at home then everyone else had better watch out."

Cook is sticking with the team which lost in the cup at the hands of Oxford last weekend for the visit of Ipswich but is not ruling out making a change before the end of the month.

He said: "Apart from the last five races at Oxford, when we took our eye off the ball, we were the better team over the two legs.

"It was disappointing to go out of the cup, but there is no point in dwelling on it. Overall, I was pleased with our performance."

Eagles have been linked with Roman Povazhny, the Russian who rode for them a couple of years ago and is now living in Poland.

If Cook decides to bring back Povazhny, then the rider to make way for him would be Marcus Andersson. Cook, however, was quick to praise Andersson.

He said: "Obviously, as the seventh rider in the team, Marcus is in the most vulnerable position. He is aware of the situation, but I thought he responded well last week."

Eastbourne have until the end of May to change their line-up before the next set of averages come out.

Cook said: "With the loss of Joe Screen, we have several points to play with, so the situation is fairly fluid. We need to find some level of consistent form, and then we will really be motoring."

He believes the title race is the most open for years, and recent results have gone a long way to underlining his view that Eagles have every chance of being in the shake-up at the end of the season despite an indifferent start.

One of those results was Ipswich's shock 51-39 home defeat by Peterborough, the second time they have been turned over on their own track by the Panthers this season.

The Witches, however, earlier went to Peterborough and not only won but also took the bonus point.

Cook said: "It's been that sort of season so far. Not many teams win at Ipswich, but Peterborough have done it twice. It just goes to show that any team going on a run can win this league."

Eagles were grounded 49-29 at Ipswich in their first league match of the season, when rain halted the proceedings after 13 heats.

That probably means the bonus point is out of reach tomorrow night, but Eagles will be happy to take the two points providing they produce a convincing display to go with the victory.

Ipswich's problems have mostly been at reserve, where Savalas Clouting and Jason Bunyan have found points hard to come by. England skipper Chris Louis and Scott Nicholls are guaranteed to give Eastbourne a run for their money, and a lot will depend on what sort of support they get from third heat leader Craig Boyce.

Following Wednesday's wasted trip to Belle Vue, where the heavens opened just before the start time, the Sussex squad have a run of three successive home matches, against Ipswich, Coventry and Ipswich again.

Eastbourne: Martin Dugard, Brent Werner, Dean Barker, Stefan Andersson, David Norris, Joonas Kylmakorpi, Marcus Andersson.

Ipswich: Chris Louis, Jarek Hampel, Craig Boyce, Jeremy Doncaster, Scott Nicholls, Savalas Clouting, Jason Bunyan. (7.30pm start).