SPEEDWAY: Korneliussen promises Robins will bounce back from Poole defeat (From Swindon Advertiser)

SPEEDWAY: Korneliussen promises Robins will bounce back from Poole defeat

7:15am Friday 23rd May 2008 in Sport By Andy Cryer

MADS Korneliussen admits he had forgotten how bad defeat at the Abbey Stadium felt like but assured a stunned Robins faithful he was not about to get used to it.

Swindon's flying Dane was a rare positive on a night of disasters for beleaguered boss Alun Rossiter as Robins crashed to their first defeat at home for almost two years in emphatic style.

Poole's 51-39 win was as comfortable as it sounds but, only his second home defeat in his three years at Blunsdon, Korneliussen is determined to ensure there are no repeats in the near future.

Despite dropping from top spot to third in just one night, Korneliussen insists the Elite League title is still a realistic target for Rossiter's under-fire side.

He said: "I can remember we lost here one time and so this is the second time we have lost here and I don't like it. I am not happy about it.

"We will not lose again this season and another two years after that hopefully. Ten more years would be nice but I would settle for one home defeat every two years. We have to forget about it now and move on though because the league title is not gone yet. So we have to battle on."

Korneliussen (10), Leigh Adams (10+1) and Troy Batchelor (9) returned with respectable scores but Travis McGowan's one point from four rides left him again the scapegoat for many.

Korneliussen said: "It was a night to forget. A few riders had off nights and we have to work out why.

"We are having problems with our engines and it is always hard to ride on low confidence. You need something special when the confidence is not there."

Robins' hopes of inflicting a third defeat in a week on a stuttering Poole were boosted by the absence of Pirates star Chris Holder, who pulled out of Wednesday night's defeat to Ipswich through injury.

Poole obviously did not read the script though and edged ahead in heat three though with Magnus Zetterstrom gating well to lead the visitors to the night's first maximum and Davey Watt's win in the next heat saw them with a surprise 15-9 lead.

The flying Kasprzak's second victory of the night in heat five turned the pressure on further although Leigh Adams' heat six win, with Wright taking third, stopped the rot and gave Robins their first heat win.

The tide looked like it might turn in seven when Zetterstrom was excluded after hitting the deck following a collision with teammate Watt, gifting Robins a 4-2 win with Batchelor and Pijper sandwiching the gutsy Watt in the re-run.

A brilliant inside overtaking manoeuvre on lap three by Korneliussen then ensured another share of the spoils in heat nine, with the struggling McGowan unable to back up the Dane's heroics, and Adams' win in heat 10 saw the hosts still within touching distance at 28-32.

Batchelor though then threw away victory to the flying Kasprzak on the last bend of heat 11. Having wrestled the lead on the bend earlier, and when Zetterstrom won heat 12, a shock Robins defeat looked on the cards at 32-40.

In desperation Adams started from 15metres back in heat 14 in a tactical substitution for Pijper but he was beaten into third by Zetterstrom and Skornicki to seal victory for Poole with a heat left.