Jon Cook has told his skipper to be ready for heat-15 action if Eastbourne Eagles go the distance again tonight.

But the Eagles boss admits the chances of another thriller are remote as Eagles visit in-form Peterborough Panthers in the Elite League (7.30).

Dean Barker sat out the last heat decider in Monday's heartbreaking 48-45 reverse at Wolverhampton.

With hindsight, Eagles chief Cook might have been well advised to use the tactical nous of Barker as his team chased a 3-3 to win the match and had only to avoid a home 5-1 to grab the bonus point.

Wolves duo Peter Karlsson and Billy Hamill duly took the hosts' third maximum in the last four races to clinch three points.

Cook said: "With hindsight, I would have done a lot of things differently.

"But you always look back at different factors when you lose such a close meeting.

"Dean tends to shy away from heat 15 if he feels there are better people in the team.

"He's not the sort of rider who is there with his helmet on asking who he's riding heat 15 with. That's not his style.

"But he will never refuse to go out there either.

"We will have to take on board the season he is having and he could be expecting a lot more heat 15s than he has had in the last couple of seasons.

"That's the sign of the form he is in."

Before the Wolverhampton trip, Barker was averaging exactly 8.00 this season, which equates to a second or paid-second every race.

He has now upped that to 8.24, compared to a starting figure of 5.20 based on last summer's performances.

Eagles are having to go through all their options, and improvise where necessary, to cover the absence of Nicki Pedersen, Adam Shields and Brent Werner.

They bring in Arena-Essex's Joonas Kylmakorpi tonight as guest for Pedersen, operate rider-replacement for Shields and call-up Trevor Harding for Andrew Appleton at No. 6.

Harding, officially Eagles' eighth man, will also ride at home to Swindon on Saturday after Cameron Woodward's work permit and visa were delayed.

Eastbourne gave Lewis Bridger the maximum seven races on Monday and he responded with a stunning 14-point display.

At 264 metres, Wolves' track at the atmospheric old Monmore Green Stadium is just nine metres shorter than the circuit Bridger knows so well at Arlington.

By contrast, Peterborough's track at the East of England Showground is the second-longest in the Elite League at 336 metres.

Cook said: "We are looking forward to seeing what Lewis is like at a track like that."

Panthers will expect to bag two match points plus the bonus having lost by just one point at Arlington.

They are in fabulous home form, having thumped Oxford 63-31 on Tuesday to follow Good Friday's 55-40 defeat of Swindon, in which Jesper B Jensen had a paid maximum.

Cook said: "We are not expecting a great deal but morale in the camp is high.

"The main thing is to come out of it in one piece ready for our home meeting with Swindon on Saturday."

Peterborough: Andersen, Raun, Jensen, Iversen, Sullivan, Hall, Ostergaard.

Eagles: Norris, Moore, Barker, rider-replacement (Shields), Kylmakorpi, Harding, Bridger.