SWINDON Robins have not left themselves a mountain to climb, but it will feel like a steep hill if they are to claim their place in the Elite League Grand Final on Monday night, says team boss Alun Rossiter.

The Robins left Brandon Stadium last Monday having struggled to come to terms with a heavy track and eight points adrift of Coventry Bees.

Swindon return to the Abbey Stadium on Monday where, since they lost to Wolverhampton in the middle of June, they have not been beaten for nine meetings.

That run included wins against all three of the Robins’ play-off contenders, the Bees, King’s Lynn and Poole Pirates.

Rossiter is confident his riders will feel at home, despite a few weeks away and, no matter what the result, the track will create good racing.

“They (Coventry) set up the track to suit them, which they are entitled to because it is their track, but it did not make for good racing,” he said.

“Our track is set up as it is, it won’t be any different on the night. It is fairly flat and it should make for some good racing.

“The riders have done well on our track since it was improved, and Ronnie (Russell) has done a really good job on it.

“We had to change it because we were having issues with the track, and, although the riders haven’t been at the Abbey for a couple of weeks, it won’t take them long to get back into it.

“At the moment we are injury-free, hopefully it stays that way but there are a couple of meetings over the weekend.”

Having won the title in 2010 with Coventry and then again in 2012 with Swindon, Rossiter knows what it will take to lift the trophy for a third time.

Being eight points down was never part of the plan and he is expecting an explosive start from his riders to secure their place in the Grand Final against either Poole Pirates or King’s Lynn.

“We’ve made it slightly harder for ourselves, we made a few mistakes but realistically it is still do-able,’’ he added.

“I didn’t have a worst-case scenario because we set high standards for ourselves and we went in to the (Coventry) meet wanting to win.

“(After the meeting on Monday) The riders seemed pretty pumped to do well at home where we know the track well.

“Coventry did not produce anything on the night that surprised us – certain riders can ride certain tracks.”

Coventry make one change, with Edinburgh’s talented Australian youngster Max Fricke replacing Aaron Summers as a guest for the injured Ben Barker.

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