ROBINS boss Alun Rossiter insisted his side’s 47-44 defeat at Lakeside this evening was ‘as good as a win.’

After a slow start to the meeting the Robins found themselves trailing by double figures at a number of stages, but a superb comeback, led by Peter Kildemand and Troy Batchelor, saw the 2012 Elite League champions claim a point against a Hammers side who must be kicking themselves after they failed to take maximum home points.

The Robins had to do without top reserve Steve Worrall, who has a good record at Arena Essex, due to commitments with Premier League side Edinburgh, and although Rosco believes his side could have won if he had been present he was extremely happy with a point.

“It was a fantastic performance to come here with no team practice at all after we were rained off against Poole, and produce something like that,” he said.

“We have so many positives to take and this is a great start. We just had to keep going because I was always confident Batch and Peter would go for it and win it for us.

“They are such a strong top two and they are only going to get better and stronger for us this season which is a real bonus.

“We were missing Steve Worrall tonight and if he was here I think we possibly could have won the meeting. Even though we did eventually lose this wasn’t really a loss for us to be honest, I think it’s as good as a win.”

Nick Morris supported his top two well with 6+2 from a hard set of rides on his first night as a heat leader, despite being part of a mix-up with Peter Kildemand which saw tactical points go missing in heat six.

“Nick had a solid night after messing his first race up and then was head down and in the zone and didn’t realise Peter was behind him in the tactical, but it didn’t cost us and to come away with a point is great,” Rossiter said.