BRADLEY Wilson-Dean conceded Wolverhampton Wolves deserve to hold the advantage in the SGB Premiership Grand Final after Swindon Robins failed to adapt to the conditions in last night’s first leg.

The Robins were caught out by an unfamiliar track at the Abbey Stadium as Wolves claimed a 47-43 success ahead of Wednesday night’s second leg, ending a run of 13 straight home wins for Swindon.

Alun Rossiter’s troops were on the ropes early on as three 5-1 maximum wins in the opening seven heats for Wolverhampton saw them open up a 27-15 lead.

Although the Robins were able to significantly trim that before the meeting was out, they have still left themselves an uphill struggle to lift the trophy and will now need to triumph on Wolves’ own shale at Monmore Green by five points.

Having set the standard throughout the 2017 season by finishing top of the Premiership table before convincingly beating Poole Pirates in the play-offs, New Zealand racer Wilson-Dean was left dejected at how Swindon’s fortunes have faded.

“You can’t make any excuses. All you can say is that we were beaten by the better team and that’s just how it was. I’m not really sure what we can say about it,” said Wilson-Dean.

“Wolves got stuck in straight away and we were all running around trying to work out the set-up for the track because it is completely different to how it has been lately.

“They started strong while we were trying to figure out how to get the bikes off the line. No one was making starts and no one had any speed.

“It’s frustrating to go the whole season and get all this way and then lose out for whatever reasons.”

Wolves are the only Premiership side that Swindon have failed to beat on the road so far in 2017 but Wilson-Dean says the team must not give up hope that they can overcome the odds and be crowned champions on Wednesday.

“It’s not over yet and we have got to keep our heads up,” said the 22-year-old.

“We have not lost this final yet, we have still got Wednesday to go.”