ALUN Rossiter admits Swindon Robins’ play-off hopes could be hanging by a thread come the end of the week should they fall flat again on the road.

The Robins travel to King’s Lynn Stars this evening and then Belle Vue Aces tomorrow as they look to breathe new life into their flagging hopes of finishing in the top four come the end of the season.

Rossiter’s side are fifth in the table with six meetings to go in 2016 but four of those are away from the Abbey Stadium.

Swindon have failed to pick a point in any of their last three away meetings, being beaten by scores of 32, 12 and then 22 in the process.

With the campaign now entering its decisive stage, team manager Rossiter knows another pointless week on the road could be fateful for his side.

“It’s crunch time now with the play-offs coming up. We have got to get something out of one of these two meetings,” said Rossiter.

“It will be very tough if we don’t get anything out of either of them but you can never lose hope. You don’t know what everyone else is going to do, so we will just keep fighting until the very end.”

The Robins will welcome back reserve Nielsen for the first time since the home win over Wolverhampton Wolves on July 7 tonight but fellow reserve Charles Wright misses out with a concussion. Leigh Lanham has been booked as a guest in his place.

Rohan Tungate will then miss the trip to Belle Vue as well, with the Robins operating rider replacement in his absence and Kyle Howarth coming in as a guest for Wright.

A depleted Swindon side are likely to be up against it in Manchester, so Rossiter is therefore targeting this evening’s fixture at the Norfolk Arena as his most likely source of a precious away win.

“They are both going to be hard meetings but Friday will be harder as we haven’t got Rohan or Charles,” said Rossiter.

“We did well at Belle Vue earlier in the season and we got a draw the last time we went to King’s Lynn, so we have to look to follow those results up. That gives us lots of encouragement and we have got to go there again believing in ourselves.

“King’s Lynn is the one that we have got to look to target to try to win and if we can, it will give us more confidence travelling to Belle Vue.

“If we do well on Thursday, that will take the pressure off for Friday.”