It's crunch time for Eastbourne Eagles. The Elite League champions face three matches in three days staring down the barrel.

Eagles go to early shock merchants Poole today, then move on to pre-season title favourites Coventry tomorrow night before facing Poole on Sunday at 5.30pm in Arlington's first live TV match of the year.

While Eastbourne boss Jon Cook is refusing to send out any distress signals ahead of the Easter weekend, past history suggests the team of 2001 are on borrowed time unless they start hitting the winning track.

The Sussex squad have failed to win in four attempts since beating King's Lynn in a last-heat decider in the Premiership Trophy and have picked up just one point in three league matches.

Cook said: "It's time to kick-start our season and show exactly what we are about. Things haven't worked out so far. There has been no consistency."

His main concern at this stage is at reserve, where new signings Brent Werner and Marcus Andersson have so far failed to influence results.

Werner hit eight points in the match at King's Lynn but drew a blank two days later at Oxford, where Andersson also failed to beat anyone.

Eagles lost by four points at Oxford and Cook said: "Our reserves were awful, and it cost us the match."

The form of Eastbourne's tail-enders is likely to be crucial this weekend, especially against Poole, whose reserves, both newcomers to British racing, have gone off like trains.

Krzysztof Cegielski was top scorer in the win at Coventry which sent shock waves through the sport, while former Eastbourne man Gary Havelock, now Poole's skipper, rates Hans Andersen the best reserve in the league.

Cook said: "We need to compete with them and score as many points as they do, otherwise our reserve strength is going to be an Achilles heel for us this season.

"I'm confident our top five can outscore the opposition, but I don't think we can cover for a complete whitewash at reserve."

Eastbourne skipper Martin Dugard should be fit to lead Eagles after suffering a viral infection, but Eagles will need to be firing on all cylinders to get back on the right track.

Poole's chances were written off by the pundits before the season even started after world champion Mark Loram's shock move to Peterborough during the winter and Scott Nicholls returned to Ipswich.

Three-times world No.1 Tony Rickardsson was drafted in as Loram's replacement, but it is the "unknown" Poles, Cegielski and Grzegorz Walasek, and Denmark's Andersen who have set the league alight.

Eagles expect a big crowd for Sunday's Sky TV match and, after suffering a drubbing in front of the cameras at Ipswich, Cook says it is important the Sussex outfit put themselves back in the championship picture.

He said: "It's early days and the weather has made the start to the season a stop-go affair, but we can't afford to lose any more ground, especially with everyone watching us."

Eastbourne: Martin Dugard, Dean Barker, David Norris, Joonas Kylmakorpi, Joe Screen, Marcus Andersson, Brent Werner.

Poole: Gary Havelock, Craig Watson, Jeremy Doncaster, Grzegorz Walasek, Tony Rickardsson, Hans Andersen, Krzysztof Cegielski.

Meanwhile, Eastbourne have one of the hottest properties in speedway despite their lukewarm start to the season. Joe Screen scorched to victory in the Simon Wigg memorial meeting at Peterborough, beating a star-studded field.

Screen finished with 13 points, one more than Scott Nicholls and Gary Havelock, with Billy Hamill another point behind. That followed 28 points in Eastbourne s two previous matches.

Screen, who slumped to 18th in the world rankings after a disastrous Grand Prix campaign last year, will be hoping his form holds.

He launches his bid for world championship glory in three weeks time in the German GP in Berlin.