Marcus Andersson has pledged to fight for his Eastbourne future.

Andersson, earmarked as the fall guy as Eagles struggle to get their Elite League season back on track, has told promoter Jon Cook he wants to stay.

And the rookie Swede aims to underline his claims with another gutsy display when the Sussex squad take on Coventry Bees at Arlington Stadium tomorrow.

Cook has made no secret of his efforts to bring in a new rider in the aftermath of the serious injury to Joe Screen or that Andersson would be the man to go.

The rider, however, is determined not to take the decision to axe him lying down and is currently on a mission to give the East-bourne boss a headache.

Cook admits the battling performance last Saturday against Ipswich, which earned Andersson a paid ten points, has presented him with a dilemma.

He said: "Marcus respon-ded magnificently. I couldn't fault him, and at the end he was chuffed to bits with his own display."

It was a pity for Eagles that Andersson's team-mates did not follow his example because on the night there were other riders a lot better qualified for the chop.

Added Cook: "Marcus is aware of the position, but you could see how much he wants to ride for East-bourne.

"And how much the club means to him, even though he has only been here five minutes."

Cook also paid tribute to Andersson's team spirit when he was dropped from one race in favour of countryman Stefan Andersson.

He explained: "Marcus came up to me and said: Don't worry about dropping me. I'm a team man, and if you think Stefan stands a better chance then that's fine with me."

Andersson is to all intents and purposes in his first season in British speedway, having previously had only brief injury interrupted spells with Poole and Edinburgh.

He won his first race in Eagles colours and was an instant hit with the fans when he beat Continental high-flyers Nicki Pedersen and Niklas Klingberg.

But points haven't been easy to come by, and despite the arrival of Stefan Anders-son Eastbourne are still some way away from compensating for the loss of Screen.

As the proverbial make-weight in the numbers game at the start of the season, Marcus Andersson is in the most vulnerable position if Cook decides to cash in the few points he has in hand when another new set of averages comes into play for the month of June.

Ironically, Andersson was due to go on loan to tomor-row's opponents, Coventry, if Eagles had landed a new signing before now.

Kelvin Tatum, Roman Pov-azhny and Poland's Tomasz Bajerski are among the names who have been in the frame.

What happens for the rest of the season may well be determined by the team's showing against Coventry.

And Andersson has no plans to be a back-marker.