The Poole Pirates visit the Showground for the first time of the season on Thursday and the match is already being billed as very important by both sides.

Poole, yet to win away in the Elite League this year are known to have targeted Alwalton as one place they can win but the side now is looking quite different to the one that started the season.

Krzysztof Kasprzak has replaced the injured Bjarne Pedersen over the weekend and the Poole management have strongly hinted that two more changes could be made prior to this fixture.

Karol Zabik and Zibi Suchecki are both on the current injury list and facilities for the pair are not really helping Poole’s cause at present, whilst Adam Skornicki is also reported to be riding whilst not 100% fit.

Chris Holder has stormed to the top of the Poole averages as everyone expected him to and so far it's been a good year for Davey Watt and Freddie Eriksson, but they are yet to win on the road this year and disappointedly surrounded a 24 point lead against Coventry the other night to miss out on the Craven Shield Final.

Latest information suggests Craig Watson will guest in place of the injured Zibi Suchecki as Poole's no 8 Jordan Frampton is already committed for his Premier team Somerset, and that Poole will use R/R for the injured Karol Zabik.

Panther's meanwhile are still looking at their options and now have to cover for the injured Sam Simota at reserve.

Team Manager Trevor Swales has booked Scunthorpe's Carl Wilkinson for Thursday and was anxious to thank the Scunthorpe promotion for being a pleasure to deal with and allowing the booking with very little notice.

It was great to see Danny King record his first EL maximum in the last home match and Panthers will again need all their heat leaders firing on all cylinders for this match and some reasonable back up from some of the bottom end if they are to see off the challenge of Poole.

Team Manager Trevor Swales said: "It's going to be hard on Thursday, we cannot take anything for granted, yes they have lost Pedersen but they have a very good replacement in Kasprzak and he rides the Showground well if not better than Pedersen.

"I have spent hours and hours on the phone recently and at the moment we have got no one to come in, there are very few people available that could come in and do a good job and you need to give three days notice to change the team in any event.

I am not going to change the team for change sake, its no good bringing someone in that isnâ't going to do any better than what we have at present."