RONNIE Russell has urged his Swindon septet not to throw away any more precious Elite League points after a stop-start May.

The month began with a terrific victory over much-fancied Peterborough but that ultimately proved a false dawn as the Robins subsequently went down to Coventry twice, Poole and Belle Vue.

Although they overcame Belle Vue last week, the Blunsdon side were unable to secure back-to-back victories for the second time this season after Coventry launched a sensational fightback at Brandon on Monday.

And ahead of tonight’s trip to Eastbourne, the only away track Swindon have won at this season, boss Russell told the Advertiser that he will no longer tolerate lost points.

“When I look at the league table and look at the matches in hand, the table is still very much open and we cannot afford letting points slip away,” he said.

“We rode at home to Peterborough and everyone stepped up to the plate - they were trapping and getting to the first corner in front of them.

“When we were at Belle Vue I was convinced we were going to win or certainly at least going to get a point out of it, but we came away with nothing.

“We went to Coventry and started in exactly the same way, and I thought we were back.

“The 8-1 (in heat six) was so unexpected and that was the start of their bounce-back.

“There’s still a long way to go (in the league) and if we had won down at Coventry then we would have been going to Eastbourne on a high.

“As it is we have got to go down there and pick ourselves up again.”

And it is a victory, rather than a draw or narrow loss, that Russell is targeting as he bids to start June with a flourish.

“I’m desperately looking to go down to Eastbourne and see if we can repeat what we did in the first meeting of the season,” he said. “It would be a timely win for us, we’ve got to go there in the knowledge that we have beaten them on their own track before and they have not strengthened since.”

Meanwhile, Swindon’s Knockout Cup second leg clash at Peterborough on Friday, June 11 has been postponed.

With both sides possessing riders who will compete overseas in Grand Prix qualifiers the following day, the decision was made to call off the encounter.