SWINDON Robins were taken apart in the Lion’s den as Alun Rossiter’s side suffered a 14 point defeat at the hands of Leicester Lions.

Leicester skipper Jason Doyle took a four race maximum to help his side to a 52-38 win on a balmy evening in Leicestershire.

Swindon were back to full strength tonight for the first time since the opening meeting with Poole Pirates at the Abbey Stadium.

Adrian Miedzinski returned for his first meeting since picking up a horrible hand injury that night, but it was a night to forget as he failed to score for the Robins.

The lions were without Pole Grzegorz Walasek with a broken collar bone, and he was replaced with guest rider Robert Lambert, who made a solid contribution with six points.

The omens weren’t good as before the opening race Troy Batchelor, who was number one rider for the evening, had a reoccurrence of his bike problems from Belle Vue.

The Aussie threw his bike down on the grass at the start of the first heat, with Nick Morris bringing a replacement, but it didn’t help.

Doyle and Sam Masters got the hosts off to the perfect start as they took a 5-1 win, as Kyle Howarth barely made it away from the line before pulling up.

Carl Wilkinson gated well in heat two to take the lead into the first bend, with Charles Wright in behind, who was pushed all the way by Simon Lambert before the Lions’ rider fell on the last corner.

Guest rider for the home side, Robert Lambert, was disqualified from heat three for missing the two minute warning, after a unsatisfactory start, and despite the 15m penalty he stole third from  a lack lustre Miedzinski, with Piotr Swiderski extending the hosts’ lead in his first ride for the Lions.

Grzegorz Wozniak gave the Lions an eight point advantage as he took heat four before heat five was stopped when Masters gave it too much coming out of the first corner and was lucky his flying bike just missed Wright as it landed in the barriers.

Swindon couldn’t capitalise on the extra rider as they settled for a 4-2 win, to take a small nibble out of the hosts’ lead courtesy of a win for Howarth.

In heat six, Lambert gated well to take the lead, while Wozniak did well to go up the inside of Batchelor out of the first corner.

As was becoming the story of the night, Doyle gated well in heat seven to extend the lead by two points in heat seven and the challenge was all but over in heat eight when Howarth, on a tactical ride for Swindon, took out Wilkinson to disqualify himself.

Leicester took the heat 4-2 after the re-start and their lead was further extended in heat nine when Masters took his first win of the night.

Swindon had looked to get their first heat win in five with Batchelor finally finding his form to lead heat 10, but Robert Lambert took Howarth on the last lap for a share of the spoils.

Miedzinski’s nightmare return continued as he limped home in heat 11 as the duo of Doyle and Masters completed a maximum to all but put the tie to bed.

Wright won his first heat of the night in heat 12 but was not backed up by Rose as they took a share of the points, before Doyle continued his perfect night to beat both Batchelor and Morris in heat 13.

Zengota was the only shining light for Swindon and he was able to win his first heat of the night in heat 14 but, with Miedzinski being replaced by Wright, Swindon were not able to do any better than share the points.

The Pole then combined with heat 15 winner Batchelor to take their first maximum win of the evening, but by that stage it was a case of damage limitation.

LEICESTER LIONS: Jason Doyle (3,3,3,3) 12, Sam Masters (2*,XF,3,2*,0)7+2, Robert Lambert (1,3,1*1*) 6+2, Szymon Wozniak (3,1,1,2) 7, Piotr Swiderski (3,1,2,0,1) 7, Simon Lambert (XF,2,1,2) 5, Carl Wilkinson (3,1,3,1*) 8+1.

SWINDON ROBINS: Troy Batchelor (1,0,3,2,3) 9, Kyle Howarth (X,3,XF^,0) 3, Adrian Miedzinski (0,0,0) 0, Grzegorz Zengota (2,2,2,3,2*) 11+1, Nick Morris (2,2,1,1*) 6+1, Charles Wright (2,1,2,3,0) 8, Lewis Rose (1*,0,0,0) 1+1.