SWINDON Robins team manager Alun Rossiter felt his side missed the chance to snatch an important victory from Poole Pirates at the Abbey Stadium yesterday.

The hosts got off to a flying start in front of a packed Easter holiday crowd at Blunsdon, as they opened up an eight-point lead by the end of heat six.

However, Neil Middleditch’s side flexed their muscles midway through the meeting to win three out of four heats and pull the scores level before a maximum in heat 12 put them in the driving seat.

Swindon claimed 4-2 wins in heats 14 and 15 to claim the draw and go home with a point to their name but Rossiter was left thinking of what could have been.

“I would probably say I’m a little bit disappointed,” he said.

“We could have probably won it. We had a little bit of bad luck and a telling race was when Nick stopped on the line.

“We knew they would come back at us in heat 12 but full credit to everybody, they kept battling until the end and we nearly pulled it off.

“We started well and then we fizzled a little bit. If we had lost, I would have been really gutted, we can’t afford to lose but at least we got a draw out of it.

“It’s just a bit unfortunate that the rain played its part and all-in-all, a fair result.”

Swindon were boosted by the return off Adam Ellis, who recovered ahead of schedule from a broken scaphoid to feature for his former team.

Meanwhile, with Scunthorpe’s meeting being rained off, Poole were able to welcome back Lewis Kerr and had Purton-born Darryl Ritchings guesting for them at reserve.

It was the perfect start for Swindon as Jason Doyle got away first and was swiftly followed into the first corner by Bradley Wilson-Dean, the duo largely untroubled as they recorded an early maximum.

Nicolai Klindt took the battle of the reserves, before David Bellego helped to extend the hosts’ advantage to six points.

Nick Morris got off to a stuttered start in heat four to allow Hans Andersen to get away but despite losing a steel shoe on lap two, he pushed the Dane all the way to the last bend.

It was another stalemate in heat five as Bellego came from the back of the pack out of bend two to take the win comfortably.

The move of the meeting came in heat six as Andersen, who made the perfect getaway, was caught unawares heading into bend three of the penultimate lap as Doyle came from a long way back to sneak underneath and claim the win, with Wilson-Dean battling hard for third spot to claim a heat win.

Trailing by eight points, Poole rolled the dice and replaced a scoreless Ritchings with Klindt in heat eight, a move that paid off as the Dane lead Jack Holder to a heat maximum and close the gap to just four and spark a comeback.

Andersen further chipped away at Swindon’s lead in heat nine as he led from the front and despite Bellego battling back to take second place from Klindt on lap two, the hosts’ advantage was cut to two.

Doyle won heat 10 to arrest the decline but it was only temporary as Morris failed to get away from the line in heat 11 as his carburetor flooded and Grondal could only secure second spot as Krzysztof Kasprzak levelled matters.

The comeback was complete by heat 12 as Swindon were forced to replace Ellis with Grondal and the travelling side secured a maximum to move four points ahead with three races remaining.

I fine ride from Andersen in heat 13 kept the visitor’s narrow advantage but Bellego’s win in heat 14 took it to the final heat with just two points in it.

Morris got away well in the deciding heat and was blissfully unaware of what was unfolding behind him as Doyle gave everything to try and clinch second place from Andersen but came up just short as the two teams ended level.

“With Nicolai at reserve, we always knew what they were going to do,” added Rossiter on Poole’s comeback.

“With the weather, it got quite greasy and there was only one line by the end and it was very difficult.

“We showed a lot of character and Nick has taken the pressure on his mantle and hopefully we can carry this on and build on it.

“I think Nick was quality and when the pressure was on, he came up with the goods and Bellego was fantastic as well.

“They all tried their best in difficult circumstances.”