Eastbourne Eagles last night signed Andrew Appleton to help them through their first headache of the Elite League season.

Appleton, formerly a Premier League heat leader for Reading, has joined on a short-term basis after Brent Werner suffered a broken collarbone in Saturday's 46-44 home win over Wolverhampton.

Werner is expected to be out for four weeks and Eagles are attempting to secure a work permit for an overseas replacement.

With Eastbourne No. 8 Trevor Harding unavailable this week, Appleton will ride at Oxford on Wednesday, in Friday's double header with Poole and possibly beyond.

Eagles promoter Jon Cook is not revealing the identity of his overseas target but said: "We are looking to bring in a new rider to see what he can do. "Maybe he will give us a selection problem for the future."

Eagles already had more British riders in their line-up than any other team and Appleton's arrival takes their home grown complement to five.

Werner came off in heat seven after going wide into the dirt on bend four in pursuit of Ronnie Correy.

He lost control and fell heavily with his bike somersaulting the air barrier.

Lewis Bridger also went flying into the stock car track in the race immediately after Werner's mishap.

But the 16-year-old was able to return for key third places ahead of Christian Hefenbrock in heats 12 and 14, ensuring heat advantages for the hosts.

Cook said: "Those rides by Lewis won us the match."

The meeting turned into another Arlington thriller with Wolves needing a maximum in heat 15 to ensure a repeat of last year's 45-45 draw between the two teams.

For a few seconds they were on course before Nicki Pedersen got past Freddie Lindgren to limit the visitors to a 4-2 as Billy Hamill took the chequered flag.

Wolves led 25-23 after eight races but Adam Shields and Dean Barker, arguably Eagles' best rider on the night, responded with a 5-1 ahead of the otherwise effective Hamill.

The hosts were in front from then on but never by more than the four-point buffer they took into heat 15.

Hamill's last-race win was his second defeat of Pedersen in three head-to-heads.