SWINDON Robins skipper Jason Doyle thought that Poole Pirates reacted better to a change in track conditions as they fell to a 50-40 defeat at Wimborne Road.

Having been heavily criticised for the track surface being uneven after last week’s defeat at home to Belle Vue, their first in 13 months, track staff at Poole were taking special care of the circuit ahead of tonight’s meeting.

As a result the hosts got off to a flier as they stormed into a 12 point lead after just three heats which left Alun Rossiter’s men chasing all night.

Swindon were able to reduce the deficit to just four points at one stage but the hosts looked in control and wrapped up the 10-point victory in the penultimate heat of the evening.

Doyle, who has suffered a number of knocks and bruises over the last few weeks, top scored for the Robins with 13 points from five rides and while he is feeling back to his old self he knows that Swindon need to start meetings in a more positive fashion.

“You get a couple of bad meetings and people start saying the wrong things and Swindon need to stick by us,” he said.

“We didn’t start too well tonight but Poole are a great team and we need to learn from what we did tonight.

“I think the track was a little bit different to what we are used to and I think they capitalised on it a little bit quicker than us.

“I think the gates were very vital this evening.

“My first heat was off gate four. We spoke about it before the meeting that if we get a good start then I could get better gates later on.

“It just shows that gate four was very hard in gate one and we need to be making a good start in the next few meetings.”

Swindon now face an immediate turnaround as they face Leicester Lions tomorrow (Thursday) evening at the Abbey Stadium and Doyle is confident of returning to winning ways if the track is up to scratch.

“At Swindon on Monday the track was very dry,” he added.

“It was not the ideal conditions. We turned up to a racetrack and it turned into a dust pit.

“I know it wasn’t the way we wanted it. We ask for the track to be the same every week and I know the track staff do a great job normally and it just didn’t work out last time.

“I don’t think tomorrow (against Leicester Lions) is important. We know our job and we need to show the fans that we can still win and after a couple of bad meetings we will come back with a good one.”