The city side travel to Wolverhampton for the first leg of the first-ever basement battle with top-flight survival at stake – and they really mean business.

Swales is refusing to contemplate failure on two of the biggest nights in the club's history. And he even has high hopes of grabbing victory at Monmore Green despite a couple of drubbings in the Midlands earlier in the season.

Swales said: "We are going to Wolverhampton to win and I have every faith in the riders being capable of doing it.

"I am not interested in keeping it tight and taking care of things at the Showground. We will be doing everything in our power to get a result tonight, but we must not be over-confident.

"Yes, we have been beaten heavily at Monmore twice, but the team that lined up in those meetings bares little resemblance to the one we will be tracking tonight.

"We owe it to the fans who have stuck by us through some tough times this season to perform on two massive nights of speedway, but we know the job will not be done until 9.30pm on Thursday regardless of the result tonight.

"Two years ago we were celebrating winning the league, but now we are fighting for our Elite League survival and I can't stress just how vital this play-off is.

"Losing and then facing the prospect of getting relegated is simply not an option."

Panthers go into the relegation showdown in sizzling form after romping to half-a-dozen home successes during September, while basement boys Wolverhampton finished the regular season 12 points adrift of the city side and haven't won a competitive meeting since August.

But Swales insists past form now has no bearing.

He added: "The fact that Wolves finished several points behind us is of no relevance.

"We start on a level playing field and it is what happens in these meetings that matters.

"The riders all know just how important this play-off is and we reiterated that when we all got together for a bite to eat yesterday."

And Swales believes he has booked the perfect guest in Rory Schlein. Panthers have drafted in the Australian racer after skipper Ryan Sullivan refused to ride.

Schlein has been revitalised in the final weeks of the season since being released by parent club Coventry and moving to Suffolk.

"Rory is a rider in top form and that is one of things that attracted us to him for these play-off meetings," continued Swales.

"I am certain he will prove to be a superb guest for us in both the meetings."

Danny King takes over as Panthers skipper in the absence of Sullivan.

The losers of tonight's play-off then go on to face the winners of the Premier League play-off final between King's Lynn and Edinburgh over two legs.