Eastbourne Eagles have called in whizzkid Edward Kennett for tonight's Elite League championship showdown against Wolverhampton at Arlington Stadium.

Kennett, 16 five weeks ago, has been drafted in as an 11th-hour replacement for Savalas Clouting, who reported sick this morning.

It will be his first senior match and means Eastbourne will go into the title decider with two riders who have never ridden for them because they had already booked American Billy Janniro to fill the other reserve place.

The Sussex side go into the match eight points down, and Cook admitted: "They don't come any more important than this one."

Cook is making no apologies for axing Adam Shields and bringing in Janniro.

"Adam has done something like 80 meetings this year, and the wear and tear is beginning to show. It is a question of protecting the club's interests, and we haven't come this far to blow it now."

Cook also rejects any suggestion of gamesmanship or bending the rules in booking Janniro as a replacement for Toni Svab, who is sidelined for the rest of the season with a broken leg.

"Adam didn't score a point at Wolverhampton, so even if Janniro scores 18 points that's only nine points per meeting, and Toni Svab would have scored that anyway."

The bottom line in Cook's mind is that Eastbourne are potential victims of the first championship play-offs in the sport's history.

In a bizarre scenario, Eagles, who in theory have already won the league once, now have to go out and win it all over again. Or see Wolves crowned as the British champions.

Cook said: "We don't want to go down as the first team to finish top of the league and have the championship taken away from us."

It could be that master tactician Cook has pulled off another stroke by bringing in Janniro.

The Coventry rider, along with team-mates Billy Hamill and Ryan Fisher, were helpless when their own team were knocked out of the play-offs by arch rivals Wolverhampton.

The Yanks were back in America at the time on a compulsory recall to the States to appear in the US Championships, and Coventry were told they had to ride the match without them.

Janniro, who finished second behind Hamill in America, will feel he has a point to prove and is more than happy to add his weight to Eastbourne's cause in helping to tame the Wolves.

The last time he rode at Arlington he starred with a paid 15-point return in Coventry's 45-45 draw against Eagles.

Before that, he finished third in the David Norris testimonial meeting, having initially burst on to the British racing scene by finishing third in the Brighton Bonanza indoor championship at the Brighton Centre.

There is no doubt the 22-year-old American World Cup rider will have a big role to play in tonight's match, especially as Eagles have fitness worries over Norris and Stefan Andersson.

Both missed Monday's Craven Shield defeat at Oxford, Norris after suffering a neck injury in a spill at Wolverhampton and Andersson with back problems after crashing in Poland on Sunday.

Eastbourne go into the meeting having won only one of their last seven matches, including the first leg at Wolverhampton, where they were beaten 49-41.

That, however, was something of a moral victory after Eagles pulled back from the abyss when they trailed by 14 points with five races left.

Cook admitted: "We were staring down the barrel at one stage, but we were on fire at the end and had got Wolves rattled."

Much of the reason for the turnaround was down to Cook and team manager Olli Tyrvainen throwing in reserves Savalas Clouting and Shields in heat 13 in an unprecedented move.

It gifted Wolves a 5-1 but enabled Eagles to use their big guns in the remaining races.

A big crowd is expected for Eastbourne's date with destiny, and the Arlington track won't be a place for the faint-hearted.

The two clubs have a history of fiery clashes, both on and off the track, and the first instalment almost ended in fisticuffs when Norris hurtled into the fence after a dice with Adam Skornicki. It won't take much to light the blue touch-paper tonight.

Eastbourne: Mark Loram, Stefan Andersson, Joe Screen, Dean Barker, David Norris, Savalas Clouting, Billy Janniro.

Wolverhampton: Mikael Karlsson, Jesper Jensen, Paul Hurry, Adam Skornicki, Peter Karlsson, Chris Neath, David Howe.

The start is at 7.30.