PETERBOROUGH have called up two in-form Premier League stars in a bid to end the longest losing run in the club’s history.

PETERBOROUGH have called up two in-form Premier League stars in a bid to end the longest losing run in the club’s history.

Workington’s Craig Cook and Somerset’s Ritchie Hawkins have been drafted in to cover the Readypower Panthers’ current tail-end crisis.

The Panthers have four riders – Polish ace Krzysztof Buczkowski, doubling up partners Klaus Jakobsen and Linus Ekl�f and number eight Joel Parsons – all unavailable for selection for Thursday night’s trip to Swindon.

Buczkowski is recovering from surgery on a fractured metatarsal in his right foot; Ekl�f is riding in the Swedish League; Parsons is ruled out with a broken back and Jakobsen’s future is up in the air after he missed both the Danish Under 21 Championship and Stoke’s visit to Workington over the Bank Holiday.

Neither Stoke – his Premier League club – Peterborough nor Danish manager Jan St�chmann have been able to track him down amid reports that he has retired because of family problems.

Cook, in stunning form for the Comets, and Yaxley-based Hawkins will fill in at reserve as the Panthers seek to end a run of 21 successive league defeats at Blunsdon.

Peterborough have never won at the Abbey Stadium since the two clubs first met in the Second Division in 1993.

It includes a run of 17 Elite League defeats in a row but Director of Speedway Peter Oakes, who spent two successful seasons as Swindon manager, said: “All runs have to end at sometime – good or bad.

“There’s absolutely no reason at all why any Peterborough rider should fear going to Swindon – they are far from unbeatable on their own track.

“Lakeside won there early last month and that’s their only away win so far so we can do what they did. We’ve picked our two Premier League guests carefully – Craig is full of confidence while Ritchie spent three seasons riding for the Robins and is in the best form of his career.”

SWINDON: Leigh Adams, Grzegorz Zengota, Morten Risager, Simon Stead, Mads Korneliussen, Justin Sedgmen, Cory Gathercole.

PETERBOROUGH: Niels-Kristian Iversen, Ulrich �stergaard, Lewis Bridger, Kenneth Bjerre, Troy Batchelor, Ritchie Hawkins, Craig Cook.