PETERBOROUGH will be looking to get their season back on track when Belle Vue visit the Showground on Friday (7.30pm).

PETERBOROUGH will be looking to get their season back on track when Belle Vue visit the Showground on Friday (7.30pm).

The Readypower Panthers have managed just one win from six meetings so far this year and know they need maximum points against the Aces if they are going to begin their climb up the Elite League table.

But they will need to produce an improved performance from last time out when they crashed to a 54-39 defeat in last week’s corresponding fixture in Manchester, but hopes are high as the team-spirit in the Panthers camp remains good despite the slow start to the new campaign.

Belle Vue made some key winter signings and have since made a healthy opening to 2013 which sees them just outside a play-off position in fifth place.

In has come Slovenia’s Grand Prix man Matej Zagar who has a good record at the Showground from his previous visits with Reading and Eastbourne, and experienced Swede Magnus Zetterstrom has also proved to be another useful capture.

Aces will operate rider-replacement for rising British star Craig Cook who is on Premier League duty with Edinburgh, but other regulars Kevin Wolbert, Artur Mroczka and Kauko Nieminen are all available. Former Peterborough man Ales Dryml skippers the Manchester side.

Panthers name an unchanged team for the seventh successive match and boss Jan Staechmann is targeting it as a must-win fixture following their early-season disappointments.

He said: “There is no question that anything but a win will be acceptable and that we need all three-points is an understatement.

“The riders know that we have to come good and they’re all working hard to rectify potential problems. We are having a closed practise ahead of Friday’s meeting where the whole team will be present.

“We have discovered some mechanical issues which are also being addressed, so fingers crossed it will be all systems go on Friday night.

“It’s not a case of ‘everyone must do better’ as Kenni Larsen and Dakota North have both been superb and deserve special praise for their efforts so far.

“The spirit in the camp is very good and I am sure we will get this situation under control and start winning meetings - but it’s fair to say time is not on our side.”

Friday’s meeting is being sponsored by Team Partner Stanair Industrial Door Services. The Kettering-based company specialise in all types of physical and electronic doors, and also have regional offices in Peterborough, Milton Keynes and Rugby.

READYPOWER PANTHERS: Kenneth Bjerre, Ryan Fisher, Norbert Kosciuch, Linus Sundström, Kenni Larsen, Patrick Hougaard, Dakota North.

BELLE VUE: Matej Zagar, Craig Cook R/R, Magnus Zetterstrom, Kevin Wolbert, Artur Mroczka, Ales Dryml, Kauko Nieminen.