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IT may have been his old side doing the celebrating at Wimborne Road but former Pirate Leigh Adams insists Poole will be put to the sword in tonight's return.

A swashbuckling ride from home skipper Bjarne Pederson, scoring paid 13, helped Poole seize the advantage in last night's Craven Shield tie but Adams insists progress is still within reach for his Swindon Robins side.

Alun Rossiter's men know they need a winning margin of 13 points in tonight's Abbey return to maintain their interest in the Shield and if Adams has anything to do with it a thrilling encounter is in prospect.

The Swindon skipper, who contributed a superb 16-point haul, said: "We will crush them tomorrow.

"We won't give up and we are ready for it. Those guys are going to really struggle at our place. We proved against Coventry we are solid at home and we just have to make the most of it.

"It is difficult away from home because these guys are a little bit inexperienced and it is hard to come to these places. But it is early days yet, we will get over it.

"I think our boys threw a few points away where they did have the good gates. We could have been a lot tighter but we kept it okay and of course we can still go through."

The night looked as though it could prove a real shot in the arm for the much-maligned Rossiter with his side racing into an early 14-10 lead after four heats.

It soon became apparent that gates one and three were far superior to two and four with 22 of the first 32 points coming from there.

Travis McGowan and Theo Pijper will be disappointed with just recording one point from the superior gates in heat six while Troy Batchelor and Pijper's two points in heat 12 could also prove costly.

"It was a bit of a lottery because one and three were so much better than anything else it was just ridiculous," said Adams.

"It is disappointing though because you lose the toss in the last race and you get two and four and you know you are going to go backwards. And I don't like being negative.

"It is just one of those things though as we did not capitalise on the good gates."

British prospect James Wright at least gave the travelling army something to cheer with a battling paid-six ride, the highlight a crucial second place behind Adams' tactical ride in heat 11.

Adams said: "When we get the team properly together, everyone will be scoring points and we will be right up there. We are not losing by much now.

"I think this place is a tough place to come. I actually think we are one of those teams who can come away from home and win."

8:12am Thursday 27th March 2008

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