Eastbourne Eagles are one win away from reaching the knockout stages of the British League Cup.

The Sussex squad go to Oxford tonight before entertaining Reading at Arlington Stadium on Sunday afternoon. And they are going into the weekend with all guns blazing.

Eagles have named their trio of World Cup stars, skipper David Norris, Dean Barker and Joonas Kylmakorpi as their three heat leaders, with Glenn Cunningham and Danish signing Ulrich Ostergaard making up the top five.

Team boss Jon Cook said: "Although we haven't given up on the Elite League, the situation with the play-offs is now out of our hands, so the focus has to be on the British League Cup.

"It's a competition we want to win and I believe we have the riders to do that."

Eastbourne will be boosted later on by the return of Adam Shields from his Premier League club, the Isle of Wight, who had first claim on his services during the group stages, while they could also recall Peter Ljung.

The Swedish youngster, who was the sensation of the World Cup, is not available this weekend because he will be riding on a wild card in the Scandinavian Grand Prix at the Ullevi Stadium in Gothenburg, where Nicki Pedersen and Mark Loram are also in action.

Cook said: "We still have the option of using Nicki and Mark in the later stages if we want to, so it's a very exciting competition for us."

Cook refutes claims in some quarters that the new cup is a second-class event. "I like it and I'm sad that some people seem to find running a squad too much of a hassle."

The Eastbourne boss has always advocated a squad system for speedway. "If I'm honest, I think this is the nearest we are going to get to it.

"It's a superb idea. It has brought the two divisions together and solved a lot of the problems we had last year with blank weeks."

One disappointment for Eagles is the loss from their squad through injury of Edward Kennett and Daniel Giffard.

Cook said: "It's a great shame. I'm upset for the lads and it's disappointing for the club because the competition was tailor-made for young riders like Edward and Dan."

Eagles are unbeaten in the cup, having defeated the Isle of Wight, Swindon and Oxford at home and won at Reading, while the match away to the Islanders was drawn.

Eastbourne still have to go to Swindon but if Eagles pick up all three points on Sunday they will be guaranteed a place in the last eight regardless of what happens there or at Oxford tonight.

That would mean a quarter-final home and away clash with either Belle Vue or Sheffield, while the semi-finals and final are also two-leg affairs.

Norris hit a 15-point maximum when Eagles won 51-42 at Reading back at the end of March, with Norris, Loram and Barker amassing 39 points and winning 12 races between them.

Andrew Appleton was the Reading star with 17 points, which included a six-pointer as a golden tactical substitute and a last-race win over Loram.

Reading won't be able to call on Appleton on Sunday because he will be riding in the world championship Grand Prix long-track meeting at Tonbridge.

Eastbourne offered Reading the opportunity to rearrange Sunday's fixture but the Racers, who are keeping their starting line-up close to their chests, insisted they wanted to go ahead with match.

Cook said: "I can only assume they have something up their sleeves."