ALUN Rossiter conceded his Swindon Robins side were the masters of their own downfall after their Elite League campaign came to a shuddering halt last night.

The Robins had seemingly been on the cusp of qualification for the end-of-season play-offs a fortnight ago when they thrashed Leicester Lions in their final home fixture.

That left them needing to claim a solitary losing bonus point from either of their last two away trips this week, although that proved beyond them as having been humbled at leaders Belle Vue Aces on Wednesday, the season ended with a crushing 58-35 loss at Lakeside Hammers yesterday.

A defeat by six points or fewer at Lakeside would have been enough to see the Robins through at Arena Essex Raceway but that always looked beyond them on a wretched night in Thurrock as the Hammers were able to leapfrog Swindon to finish fourth in the table.

Rossiter believes his side should have sealed their place long before last night’s meet as a final fixture decider away from home was always going to be a tough challenge.

“Of course, the season is a failure. We were close but even if we had got there, who is to say we would have got any further than the next round?” said Rossiter.

“As I have said before, we shouldn’t have been in this position coming to Lakeside. We should have had the job done.

“We shouldn’t have been in the position coming to Lakeside putting everything on the line for it knowing what the track is.

Rossiter also lamented some shaky home form – four fixtures at the Abbey Stadium ended in defeat – as well as some inconsistent riding from his squad following the lacklustre finish to the campaign.

“The home meetings (hurt us) and we have had riders with off nights when we could have been putting points on the table,” said Rossiter.

“There will be matches we will reflect on where if we sat down and went through it we would say: ‘That cost us or that cost us’.

“At the end of the day, we were not good enough to be in the play-offs, it’s as simple as that.”