SWINDON Robins’ boss Alun Rossiter says his side were handed a reality check by Rye House Rockets after picking up a less than convincing SGB Premiership victory at the Abbey Stadium tonight.

Rossiter, who was clearly rattled after the 48-42 win, says his side need to be on the ball from the get-go if they are to be in with a chance of following up last season's league triumph this year.

Two 5-1 defeats in the opening two heats put Swindon at an immediate disadvantage on home shale as they battled back through an enthralling encounter at Blunsdon.

Troy Batchelor and reserve Zach Wajtknecht largely escaped criticism, but the Swindon boss says his riders need to be more consistent.

The victory and Wednesday night’s bonus point from the six-point defeat at Leicester Lions, saw the Robins soar four points clear at the top of the early league standings.

Teenager Anders Rowe was drafted into the action for Jack Smith but Rossiter reiterated the club cannot afford to carry any more passengers from the remaining six riders.

“It was a bit of a wake-up call. There aren’t a lot of replacements out there for Jack (Smith) so we gave Anders an opportunity,” he said.

“No disrespect to him but that takes us down to six riders.

"David (Bellego) had an awful start to the meeting, then you’re down to five.

“It’s not a good a position to be in really, our top five should be doing a bit better.

"You have to give them credit for coming back and getting the win, but we should have never been in that position.

“Zach has been riding really well, full credit to him.

"Him and Troy (Batchelor) have been pretty consistent home and away, we just need a couple of the other boys to be consistent too.”

Despite their strong league position, Rossiter says there is still plenty of time for it to go wrong as he seeks further improvement from his line-up.

“There is a long way to go yet. I’m not really worried about where we are in the league at the moment,” he added.

“We just have to keep getting the points on the table. It’s irrelevant where we are in the table now, it only matters where we are in September.”