Peterborough Panthers captain is back for a potential Premiership wooden spoon decider!

​Panthers have been rooted to the bottom of the Premiership standings all season, but victory at the Adrian Flux Arena will see them close to within two points of their closest rivals King’s Lynn.

Both teams will have eight matches left, but Peterborough have the far more favourable schedule with seven in front of their own fans while the Stars have five of their eight on the road, including a crucial visit to the East of England Arena.

Veteran Andersen missed last week’s trips to Wolverhampton and Ipswich with a sprained right foot, but is all set to go again.

Andersen said: “I was told by my physio to take a week’s break after trapping my right foot underneath the bike while practising in Denmark and that is what I did.

“I went for a jog on Friday and it didn’t feel too bad so I was ready to ride against King’s Lynn on Monday, but that was called off the day before because of the weekend rain and the forecast.

“The extra few days won’t have done any harm and I’m looking forward to racing again.”

While the meeting at Lynn isn’t winner-take-all, victory would certainly boost Panthers chances of avoiding a second successive top-flight wooden spoon.

Andersen’s Danish teammate Niels-Kristian Iversen, who will continue at number one, said: “We need to take meetings one by one, starting at King’s Lynn which would be an ideal place to get a good run going as they are the team directly above us.

“There’s only four points between us so if we can win there, we will only be two points behind them.

“I do think we can get off the bottom with the home meetings to come. We have only won one, but I do feel we have been showing pretty good form when everyone is performing at the same time.”

Panthers are also boosted by the return of influential reserve Jordan Jenkins for what will be only his second visit to the Norfolk circuit as they seek a first away win of the season.

Jenkins said: “I have only raced one Premiership meeting there and I scored four points and I enjoyed it. It’s one of those tracks where some riders find it hard to get around psychologically because there is often a lot of dirt on it, but from what people tell me it’s been slicker than usual and I’m riding with confidence.

“I think it’s Ben Basso’s favourite track in England, Richie (Worrall) goes well there and (Niels-Kristian) Iversen rode there for many years. It’s big and wide so should suit (Vadim) Tarasenko as well. Hopefully, we can improve on our performances away from home and get the points.”

The Stars will hand a British debut to their new signing, Danish Under 21 international Emil Breum, a teammate of Iversen’s at Esbjerg.