DESPITE his team’s sensational show-stopping form, Swindon Robins chief Alun Rossiter is saving the back-slapping and eulogising until another day.

The Robins have hit the heights in recent weeks, winning seven of their last nine meetings and most-recently dispatching Elite League play-off rivals King’s Lynn Stars and Coventry Bees 55-39 and 55-36 respectively to move up to third in the table, with fixtures in hand on all of their nearest rivals.

This evening, Swindon are due to travel to reigning champions Poole Pirates, although the meeting looks to be in doubt once again, with weather warnings issued in Dorset as a result of the forecasted heavy rain, and although he would be more than satisfied with a point, Rossiter is challenging his riders to dream a little bigger.

“You’ve got to give the boys credit because they’re all riding as they should be,” said the Robins boss.

“I’m not giving myself a pat on the back because we’ve not won anything yet.

“We’ve got to get to the play-offs and until we get to those play-offs and get to that final – we might be smiling then.

“But until then, we’ve just got to keep going along and keep picking up points along the way.

“From now on, on the run-in, it looks like we’re covered and all our riders are back for the rest of the season.

“We just need to make sure we get it right for Poole because we just don’t seem to get out of the starts.

“They’re very good out of the starts and if we can get out of the starts too, then I’m sure we can do something – if we can get a point, then I’ll be happy.

“I’m looking for a win but if you look at our record, it’s shocking there, so we’ve got to make sure we go down there.

“We’re in the right frame of mind, so hey, let’s give it a go.”

Aside from Ward, Rossiter now expects to have a full-strength line-up for the remainder of the season, with Charles Wright and Robert Branford returning for the trip to Poole.