TRACKSIDE: We nned a shot in the arm, but Pirates are favourites (From Swindon Advertiser)

TRACKSIDE: We nned a shot in the arm, but Pirates are favourites

10:20am Saturday 30th August 2008 in Track Side

It’s been a miserable week for the Robins, with Wednesday’s comprehensive defeat at Poole underlining that the Elite League campaign is set to be unsuccessful for another year.

At the Fans’ Forum back in March, an upbeat Leigh Adams commented that “we only need to be the best team at the end of the season”.

Clearly that has all gone up in smoke having led for the majority of the season but now fading away.

It was the same in 2007 when Coventry hit a purple patch just when it really mattered.

Twelve months on and our challenge is also faltering.

Three consecutive play-off campaigns is no mean achievement, but it’s the champions’ name that goes into the record books, and unless there is a massive improvement over the next month, the long wait for league honours seems set to go on.

The regular season finishes next week, with a home fixture against Wolves sandwiched between away trips to Peterborough (live on Sky on Monday) and Coventry (Friday).

An away play-off tie now seems assured, as even three victories would be unlikely to see us sneak past Lakeside into second spot.

The key thing now is to avoid another trip to Dorset in the semi final. The Pirates have beaten us in all four league meetings this season, and eliminated us from the Knock-Out Cup for good measure.

We’d have half a chance of winning at Lakeside if the result there three weeks ago is any kind of guide, but that would still almost certainly lead to a two-legged contest with a Poole side that are simply on fire at the moment.

One or two team changes could yet take place and give us the shot in the arm that we need. Not for the first time Travis McGowan’s place seems most under threat. He’s a great guy but he’s had a miserable season.