ALUN Rossiter praised his Swindon Robins troops for keeping their fight for the SGB Premiership play-offs going right to the wire after a battling 47-42 win at home to Poole Pirates tonight.

The victory, coupled with a 46-44 defeat for Belle Vue Aces at Wolverhampton Wolves, means the Robins are still in with a shout of securing a top-four finish this season.

Swindon are still up against it to qualify for the end-of-season trophy shoot-out as they remain down in fifth in the table, with everything now resting on next Thursday’s crucial final meeting at home to the fourth-placed Aces.

“We knew we had to win tonight,” said Rossiter.

“We know it is in the hands of everyone else, but we are still in with a chance and it isn’t over until the fat lady sings.

“We have got Belle Vue a week on Thursday. We have got to win that and then we will just have to see where that takes us.

“A lot of effort went in when we really needed it tonight.

“Everyone is working really hard together.

“It is a shame we couldn’t do it a few weeks earlier, but you learn from it and hopefully we can come out of this stronger.”

The meeting was on a knife-edge throughout and only decided in the last race, which saw Troy Batchelor duly deliver victory for Swindon as they finally saw off Neil Middleditch’s Pirates to keep their season alive.

Rossiter added: “It was all about winning for us tonight but it was a fantastic meeting – it is always good to battle against the Pirates.

“There is a lot of pride at stake and me and Middlo go back a long way and always want to beat each other. We came out on top, so I am happy.

“We have been disappointing on the road this season and the boys are not confident on some tracks.

“But they have worked hard at home and they showed a lot of heart when the chips were down tonight. The boys did the job, which was great.”