BELLE Vue promoter John Perrin admitted that his side face a must-win match when they meet Wolverhampton in the Elite League at Kirkmanshulme Lane tonight (7.30pm).

The Aces slid to a shock defeat in their opening home league match against Ipswich and can't afford another slip if they are to mount a sustained challenge for a play-off place.

Wolves have made a steady start to the season but Perrin is optimistic that he has enough big guns to take the points.

He said: "If we are going to do anything this season, we've got to see off Wolves and get our league campaign up and running.

It's a must-win fixture for us. I'm sure we have the firepower to win if we can produce the form that brought us our KO Cup win at Coventry last week."

Perrin continues to have team problems as Tomasz Jedrzejak has been forced to pull out because of the shoulder injury he suffered in the Polish World Championship semi-final in Gdansk.

He failed to qualify for the final but fellow countryman Zbigniew Czerwinski, who will join the Aces next week, went through from the other semi-final in Rzeszow.

Perrin added: "We understand that our application for a work permit will go through next week. We hope to have both Polish riders in the side at Peterborough next Friday."

The Aces will use the rider-replacement rule for Jedrzejak tonight and Perrin is scouring the Premier League for the best guest he can find to replace Rory Schlein, who is required by his parent club, Edinburgh.

But few riders are available because of the heavy Good Friday programme.

BELLE VUE: J Screen, T Jedrzejak (rider replacement), T Svab, K Bjerre, J Crump, Guest, S Robson.

WOLVERHAMPTON: D Howe, S Ermolenko, A Skornicki, D Nermark, M Max, C Neath, E Carillo.

Meanwhile rising Salford star Ricky Ashworth faces a hectic Good Friday with two meetings for two different clubs.

The 21-year-old, who had his first rides at Belle Vue, was racing for Elite League Peterborough against visiting Arena Essex this afternoon before making the journey up the A1 to ride in Sheffield's 75th anniversary meeting tonight.

He said: "It's been a busy season and it's getting even busier but that's fine. I'm getting better as a rider all the time."