Eastbourne Eagles' top men are convinced they can fend off an all-star Peterborough line-up at Arlington tonight (7.30pm).

But they admit their challenge has been made all the harder by Panthers' astute use of the guest-replacement system.

The title-chasing visitors have brought in former world champion Billy Hamill and veteran Aussie star Todd Wiltshire after seeing their team decimated by three call-ups to tomorrow's Danish Grand Prix.

They replace Hans Andersen and Jesper Jensen respectively and can race in up to six heats apiece as Panthers operate rider-replacement for their third absentee, Niels-Kristian Iversen.

Eagles have lost Nicki Pedersen to the GP and have replaced him with Arlington favourite Mark Loram With the rest of the Eastbourne team in good home form, promoter Jon Cook and skipper Dean Barker reckon they can claim another Arlington win.

Cook admitted: "Originally it did not appear this one might be the most exciting meeting.

"Now it looks like it is going to be high quality.

"They have got some big guns there and can give all of them five or six rides.

"It's going to be a tough meeting and just what we need before the cup tie with Wolverhampton we have coming up."

Iversen is, like Pedersen, a permanent member of this year's GP series while Andersen has been picked as the wild card for Parken and Jensen was named as a track reserve, though he has since suffered a broken arm in Poland.

Hamill, of Wolverhampton, can use the match as handy practice for his return trip with Wolves in the cup a week tomorrow.

But he faces a tough task to fully replace Andersen, who scored a 15-point maximum on his most recent visit to the Sussex track in a guest outing for Reading.

Andersen also scored ten points from his first four rides when Panthers were pipped 47-46 in a thrilling season-opener at Arlington in April.

He followed that with full maximums in quick succession in Sweden, Poland and away to Wolves on Monday, when his six wins included four against Peter Karlsson.

Jensen excelled with 15 paid points from a possible 18 when Panthers were last at Eastbourne and Iversen added 8+2 from four rides. Hamill's Arlington track record includes 12 points from five rides when Wolves lost narrowly the week after the cliffhanger with Peterborough.

Barker said: "The way he has been going, I don't think anybody can replace Hans Andersen.

"Billy Hamill is good around Eastbourne but he can be a bit hit and miss and the same goes for Todd Wiltshire. The home meetings have been pretty good for us. We are just a bit shabby away."

Eagles have made a decent start to their B fixtures in terms of lining up a few potential bonus points for the return meetings.

But Barker does not expect to take the bonus from this head-to-head, which will be completed with the trip to Peterborough's monster 336-metre track in September.

He said: "As long as we can win at home, that will do for us.They are so good at home it will be tough to take the bonus."