Jon Cook has scrapped shock plans to unleash his joker in the pack in a last-gasp Knockout Cup gamble tonight.

But his Eastbourne Eagles will feel they could still deal Belle Vue Aces a surprise after earning a twopoint advantage to take to Belle Vue Aces in the second leg of the final.

Eagles produced a thrilling comeback to win Saturday's first leg 46-44 at Arlington having been six points down with three heats to go.

But Cook fears the lead will not be enough and last night decided against plans to throw David Norris, sidelined for much of the summer by concussion and its aftereffects, back into action.

Norris, the acknowledged humourist in the camp, has seen his contribution reduced to keeping team-mates smiling and helping out in the pits for much of the season.

He helped get Andrew Moore's machine ready for a key 5-1 in heat 14 on Saturday.

But Cook was close to asking him to do rather more than that in Manchester tonight before making a late selection decision.

He said: "I chatted with David as the meeting was going on. Maybe we were caught up in the moment but we felt at the time there was nothing to lose.

"But re-considering it last night we decided it was not the meeting for him to come back in."

With Dean Barker suffering from flu, Eagles have brought in Oxford's high-scoring reserve Travis McGowan as guest replacement and will continue to use rider-replacement for Norris.

Cook admits the chips are stacked against his men in Manchester.

He said: "If that had been a league meeting on Saturday it would have been the best in living memory but, unfortunately for us, it was the first leg of a cup tie.

"A two-point lead is probably not going to be enough, we've got to be realistic about that.

"But it only takes one incident to put it back in our favour. We will go up there full of fight."

Norris admits he finds it tough to watch his mates in action.

He was tempted to compete tonight, saying: "I just want to ride but really I'm no better than I was five months ago."

The return of Ollie Allen gives Eagles more options at reserve to cover for failings higher up.

At least Cook's men will not go north with a deficit, which had looked like being the case for much of the home leg.

They were 39-33 down with three races to go but Nicki Pedersen, beaten by Jason Crump in heat five, made amends in a thrilling 13th and Adam Shields completed the 4-2.

Then Moore, out of touch until that point, withstood robust challenges from Andy Smith and Jason Lyons, with Watt finding a nice racing line out wide to complete the 5-1.

That set-up a last-heat decider at 42-42 and Pedersen brought the night to a rousing finale by beating Crump again with Shields completing another heat advantage.

The late flurry delighted the fans and allowed Eagles to do their traditional lap of honour but Aces' solid work earlier on should mean they are celebrating tonight.

There were a few seconds of promise when Shields outgated Crump in heat one but the Belle Vue master responded to complete the first of four high-class wins.

At least Eagles got a 3-3 from that race. The next three all finished 4-2 to Belle Vue and the five after that were shared as a disappointingly slick track contributed to some uneventful racing.

Shields got a great start and Pedersen went outside him for a 5-1 in heat ten to reduce the deficit to 31-29.

But Aces were six clear again after heat 12 as Eagles old boy Joe Screen and reserve switch Smith enjoyed a maximum over Barker and Moore.

At the time, the second or two in which the two Belle Vue men ambushed Barker going into the back straight and sent him from first to third seemed to be the moment Eastbourne's cup hopes died.

The Pedersen-inspired comeback that followed keeps the contest alive.

But Belle Vue still hold all the aces.