SWINDON Robins rider Steve Worrall was left wishing that the covers had never been put on the track ahead of Monday night’s Elite League play-off semi-final.

The Robins struggled to come to terms with the damp track and were beaten 50-45 on the night, giving the Coventry Bees a 99-86 aggregate win.

Speaking after the meet, Worrall said in hindsight it would have been better for Swindon if the meet had not gone ahead as they lost their home track advantage, which many of the riders were very confident about heading into the meet.

Worrall fought hard all evening but failed to notch up a win in his five races as he scored just seven points.

“I’m obviously disappointed - it is just one of those nights. The track conditions didn’t really help us,” said Worrall “We can’t really blame that but we kind of lost out on track advantage.

“In our last meeting here, I was really good and really enjoyed the track and everyone else did. But obviously the track conditions were a lot different and it kind of caught us all out.

“With Coventry not having an idea of a set-up, that would have helped them.

“The way they started kind of knocked our heads down a bit and we couldn’t really get going after that.

“There wasn’t really an outstanding rider for us that we could all turn to and say ‘what set up are you running?’ to try and help each other out. Everyone had a bit of an off-night and it is just one of those things.

“That is just speedway isn’t it?”

Meanwhile, Robins skipper Troy Batchelor is riding as a guest for Poole in the remaining Elite League semi against King’s Lynn tonight.