Jon Cook today backed his Eastbourne Eagles to make a surprise bid for the play-offs after they ended their long wait for victory on the road.

Eagles picked up their first away success and their first bonus point since mid-April by beating lowly Arena-Essex 52-40 at the windswept Thurrock Raceway last night.

Leigh Adams, the Swindon rider guesting for Nicki Pedersen, led them with a flawless five-win maximum and there were contributions down the card as Eagles all but wrapped up full points with two heats to spare.

Victory gives them a massive boost in a tightly-packed lower half of the Elite League, with an injury concern to David Norris ahead of tonight's trip to Swindon the only setback from their evening.

Eagles boss Cook said: "It was a tough meeting in a way because were favourites to win which is unusual for us away from home.

"But I thought we did a professional job. It's a significant victory which opens up that little play-off window.

"There is a little bit more hope than there was and hopefully in July and August we can really start to climb the table.

"David has a problem with his arm and he was touch and go for his last two rides so he did well to come through them.

"But I thought the whole team showed a really good spirit.

"Leigh Adams was a superb guest, not just in terms of the points he scored but also in the way he fitted in with everyone."

Eagles rattled up eight heat advantages and six of their riders shared 13 individual wins between them.

Edward Kennett's last-to-first effort in heat five was arguably the pick of them. He swept outside home riders Leigh Lanham and Steve Johnston around the first and second bends on the second lap, then finished the job as Norris held the inside line for a 5-1 which put Eagles ahead for the first time at 17-13.

It was a great response from the Eagles youngster after he had fallen on the first bend of heat one as Adams raced away to launch his five-win masterclass.

Cook said: "That was a fantastic ride by Edward and it was like old-fashioned speedway the way David then let him around.

"Sadly you don't see much of that any more and it showed the spirit we have got going."

By contrast, home boss Ronnie Russell launched a stinging attack on his mis-firing heat leader Mikael Max when he took the microphone after the meeting and, to cheers from home fans, said: "You can't have your No. 1 riding like a No. 8."

Arena led 8-4 thanks to a 5-1 from Brent Werner and Paul Hurry in heat two.

But Adam Shields and Dean Barker, arguably Eagles' most productive pairing in recent weeks, held off Lanham to reply in kind in heat three.

Lanham and Werner had a 5-1 in heat seven to level matters and Arena were scenting the lead in the following race.

Lewis Bridger, though, produced one of the rides of the night to take the chequered flag from Hurry, with Kennett sneaking inside Henning Bager to grab a 4-2.

The impressive Barker and Shields led home Bager and Max in heat ten. Two Eagles 4-2s followed as Barker and Norris scored wins.

Then came the killer blow in heat 13 when Arena, trailing 41-31, sent out Max for double points.

Maddeningly for home fans, their joker was pinned in fourth place by a gutsy ride from Norris, who completed an Eastbourne 4-2 behind Adams.

That put Eagles 45-33 clear and, when Shields won a thriller against nominated rider Lanham in heat 14, the contest was over.

Joe Screen guests for Nicki Pedersen as Eagles go to Swindon tonight. The hosts, who won the corresponding fixture 55-41 at Arlington, are missing Seba Ulamek and Adrian Miedzinski, who are both at the Polish Championship, and Renat Gafurov. Reading's Travis McGowan covers for Miedzinski, riderreplacement will be used for Ulamek and a Premier League rider stands in for Gafurov