SKIPPER Jason Doyle believes Swindon Robins silenced the doubters with their impressive 51-40 victory at home to Belle Vue Aces on Thursday night.

The Robins have yet to consistently hit top gear so far in 2016 and slipped to back-to-back Elite League defeats last week.

Alun Rossiter’s side became the first team to lose to Leicester Lions this year when they went down 50-42 at Beaumont Park last Wednesday before then being beaten 48-44 at home by Wolverhampton Wolves the following day.

Doyle believes that his team have come in for some unfair criticism so far this season and was delighted to set the record straight when the Robins returned to action against Belle Vue at the Abbey Stadium.

“I think a lot of people have written us off already and in the newspapers there is a lot of negative vibes coming through,” said Doyle.

“I just say to the boys we need to block that out and do well and it just showed on Thursday night that no matter how much pressure us boys were under, we could still pull a great performance together.

“Hopefully the fans can stick by us and we can show them what we are really made of.

“All of us boys don’t need people being negative and we don’t need to be revved up either, we just need to come here with a level head and show that we can ride motorbikes.”

Swindon got off to a storming start against the Aces, winning the opening five heats of the night and building up a 14-point cushion in the process.

Doyle was again the standout performer for the hosts, with four wins from five rides for 14 points, although the Robins captain was pleased with how the whole roster pitched in.

“It just shows that if one to seven can put a decent effort in we can score really good points throughout the team,” added Doyle.

“It shows it wasn’t just one rider that could do it, it was every one of them, so I am pretty proud to be a part of that win and hopefully we can do more in the future.

“For the last two home meetings we’ve learned from our mistakes. We’ve gone off one and three, which resulted in either a 4-2 or 5-1 against us so we tried something different and it paid off. I think the first four heats we were maybe 10 or 15 points up.

“The atmosphere in the pits was unbelievable, everyone helped each other out and I think that’s part of being in this team, we don’t all have to be scoring 10 points, if everyone is chipping in and scoring a few points, it makes it a lot easier.”

n SWINDON Robins’ trip to Lakeside Hammers last night was postponed due to a poor weather.

Hammers co-promoter Jon Cook said: “Our track manager Gerald Richter and myself have looked at all weather stations and talked to the Met Office and all forecast wet conditions with a biting easterly wind from 4pm through to Saturday morning with no break.”

Swindon now have a week off before their next meeting away to Coventry Bees on Monday, May 2.