Peterborough race straight into official competition at the start of the club’s new era on tonight (7.30pm) – with Rye House providing the opposition in the League Cup at the Showground.

The TC Harrison Ford Panthers are well-fancied to enjoy a successful season at Premier League level, and are keen to open up on the right note after extensive pre-meeting practice.

That is in stark contrast to the launch of their Elite League campaign in 2013 when poor weather in the build-up to the opening fixtures had a dramatic, adverse effect on their results.

This time around, new consortium leader Mick Horton is desperate to make the Showground a fortress from the off, and is also calling on supporters – who have snapped up season-tickets in big numbers – to back the club in the new venture.

Tuesday’s fixture was originally scheduled to be an East of England Cup match, but the date of the Rockets’ planned League Cup visit clashed with the British Under-21 Final, meaning both teams would have been under-strength.

Bringing the official match forward largely alleviates that problem, although the visitors will operate the rider-replacement facility for ex-Panther Jason Bunyan, who is in New Zealand ahead of his Wild Card appearance in the forthcoming Grand Prix.

But the Rockets are led by British international Edward Kennett and also include the all-action Jason Garrity, as well as former Peterborough man Matt Tresarrieu.

Panthers welcome Ales Dryml, Lasse Bjerre and skipper UIrich Ostergaard back to the club after previous spells, whilst at No.1 Ryan Fisher continues from last year’s Elite League side and there are full debuts for Lewis Blackbird, Joe Jacobs and Oliver Greenwood.

Co-boss Blayne Scroggins said: “We’re new to the Premier League and we have to show what we’re about. That means stamping our authority from the word go against Rye House.

“We need to hit the ground running and make sure we top our group in this competition. It is a piece of silverware we would desperately like to win and doing well in the League Cup can set us up nicely for the start of the league itself.

“We saw last year here, albeit at a different level, that it is incredibly difficult to play catch-up after a poor start and we don’t want to find ourselves in that situation again.”

PETERBOROUGH: Ryan Fisher, Lewis Blackbird, Lasse Bjerre, Ulrich Ostergaard, Ales Dryml, Joe Jacobs, Oliver Greenwood.

RYE HOUSE: Edward Kennett, Jason Bunyan R/R, Matt Tresarrieu, Jason Garrity, Steve Boxall, Luke Bowen, Simon Lambert.