Eagles aim to tame Witches

There are, of course, still other fixtures to come - the Knockout Cup semi-final against form team Coventry Bees and the Craven Shield qualifying round against Ipswich and Wolverhampton Wolves.

In addition the Sussex side face visits to both Ipswich (September 14) and Arena Essex (September 22).

The Ipswich Witches have suffered a troubled end to their campaign. For many weeks they jousted with the Belle Vue Aces, with both clubs endeavouring to seize the fourth and final Elite League play-off place alongside Peterborough, Reading and the emerging Swindon challenge.

A resurgence in form for champions Coventry and the catching up of fixtures by Wolverhampton has thrown a spanner into the works, while skipper Chris Louis, who was showing golden form, sustained a collar bone injury which seems set to rule him out of the league run-in.

With the Latvian round of the World Grand Prix series due to be contested tomorrow, both the Eagles and the Witches operate the rider replacement facility for Nicki Pedersen and Pepe Protasiewicz respectively.

In addition Ipswich have snapped up the services of evergreen Australian Todd Wiltshire as a guest replacement for Louis.

Eagles: 1 Adam Shields, 2 Edward Kennett, 3 Dean Barker, 4 David Norris, 5 rider replacement for Nicki Pedersen, 6 Cameron Woodward, 7 Lewis Bridger.

Witches: 1 rider replacement for Pepe Protasiewicz, 2 Kim Jansson, 3 Robert Miskowiak, 4 Todd Wiltshire (guest for Chris Louis), 5 Mark Loram, 6 Daniel King, 7 Tobias Kroner.