TROY Batchelor believes potential play-off final opponents Poole Pirates will be running scared after watching the Robins crushing victory over Birmingham on Monday night.

Swindon will be looking to finish the job at Blunsdon this evening after securing a 20-point first leg victory at Perry Barr, which has all-but booked their place in the Elite League grand final.

Poole themselves have already secured their place after easily beating Lakeside over two legs, and Batchelor believes the Pirates will be intimidated by the way the Robins performed at Perry Barr.

“They were obviously riding on the night, but I think Poole would have watched our meeting back and seen the score, and will be thinking to themselves that they have their work cut out,” he said.

“Everyone puts Poole up on a pedestal which is okay because they are a good side, but so are we.

“We are ready for them, that is for sure, and we have a good one to seven which is exactly what you need to win titles.

“Pete (Kildemand) is in awesome form and Doyley (Jason Doyle) is awesome too, and we have a lot of heat leaders and no second strings.

“Poole have three good riders at the top end, but the others let the rest of the team down.

“Winning heats 4-2 is what wins meetings, not drawing 3-3, so it is going to be an interesting match that is for sure.”

But while Batchelor is already looking forward to the prospect of taking on the Pirates over two legs, he knows the Robins still have work to do to see off Birmingham this evening.

“Last time they came to our track they put up much more of a fight than they did on their own track, and that is no disrespect to them because they have good riders,” he said.

“On Thursday they will come back for sure and want to finish their season on a high, and they won’t want to come to Swindon and get their tails handed to them.

“It will be a good meeting no matter what, but if you go into it think it is easy then you are not going to come up with the goods, so we are going to go into it and give our best, and if we have the same attitude as we did on Monday night then we will be fine.”

Batchelor is hoping to use tonight’s meeting as good practice before the Robins host the first leg of the final on Monday night, and wants his side to build up vital momentum going into the final.

“We are definitely going to use Thursday as a good practice, but it will not be easy,” he said.

“We know we are going to be at home on Monday, so being there on Thursday is a good time to try some things, and there are two good meetings on the bounce.

“Keeping our role going is important, and the more times you ride in a week the better you go “We have run them pretty close at Poole so we know what to expect from them, and we can’t wait for it.”