David Norris has been handed a key role in tomorrow night's top of the table showdown with Coventry at Arlington Stadium (7.30).

Norris switches to the No. 4 race jacket to partner out of form skipper Joe Screen as Eastbourne Eagles aim to shoot down their rivals for the Elite League top spot.

Boss Jon Cook has acted after Eagles crashed to a shock home defeat at the hands of strugglers Ipswich and then suffered their third defeat on the trot against Wolverhampton on Monday night, their worst run of the season.

Said Cook: "I didn't want to break up the Mark Loram and David Norris partnership, but having our best two riders at home riding together in the same race is not the best option when we have problems in other positions."

The move means that Stefan Andersson will now ride at No. 2 with top scorer Loram.

Cook explained: "Stefan and Joe are not helping each other at the moment. One is coming out of a bad patch, and the other is in the middle of one."

Screen has only hit double figures once at Arlington since the middle of May, and that was against a wretched King's Lynn side, while Andersson's nine points against Ipswich was his best effort in any match since April.

Cook is banking on the changes giving the Sussex squad a better balance, while Norris's inclusion in heat 14, which has proved a troublesome race for Eagles, should anchor the team ahead of the final heat.

"I am not prepared to write off the Ipswich result as a fluke. I think that would be very dangerous. The fact is we only won five races, and we didn't raise our game when we should have done.

"At the moment we have a couple of riders in the team who can't come up with the goods when the chips are down, and I am not prepared to see all the hard work we have put in go down the tubes in that way."

Cook had a showdown with his riders before the match at Wolverhampton. "I didn't mince my words, and we had a frank and honest exchange.

"We are top of the league and in the cup final, but we haven't won anything yet."

The Eastbourne boss, however, remains confident Eastbourne will still be in the driving seat after tomorrow night.

Master tactician Cook reasons that Eagles have 11 points in hand in real terms despite the vanishing gap at the top of the table.

"Based on away wins and bonus points, we have a record of plus 19, whereas Coventry are only plus eight and Wolves and Poole plus seven. That to me is the true form guide."

Cook reasons that the onus is on Coventry, who have ridden three more home matches than Eagles, to come to Eastbourne and win.

It should be a cracker, not least because Coventry have already done just that at Arlington this season.

They nicked a 45-44 victory back on April 6, when one-time Arlington junior Lee Richardson was unstoppable with six wins and 18 points, but Eagles gained revenge for that defeat when they won 47-43 at Coventry in June.

Last weekend's astonishing turn of events, when the top two were both beaten at home, Eagles by Ipswich and Coventry by Poole, means that tomorrow's shoot-out has even greater significance.

Despite Cook's stat attack, you sense another defeat for Eagles would be a huge psychological blow. Cue Norris, the man they call "Floppy." Don't even think about it.