ECHOES of Swindon Robins’ title winning season in 2017 are starting to creep into team manager Alun Rossiter’s thoughts, following tonight’s remarkable 66-24 win over Ipswich Witches in the SGB Premiership.

Robins’ 32-point victory at the Abbey Stadium was the biggest-margin top flight victory from all results this season, and sent Rossiter’s septet to the top of the Premiership following Poole’s loss at Wolverhampton.

Jason Doyle, Adam Ellis, Rasmus Jensen, Claus Vissing and Troy Batchelor all returned with paid double figure scores, while Ellis Perks (5) and Tobiasz Musielak (7+2) also made helpful contributions.

Sure, it would be tempting for Rossiter’s to boast his emotions following Robins’ dominant win.

But he is remaining cool, calm and collected regarding his side’s play-off credentials – just as he did two seasons ago – ahead of Peterborough Panthers’ visit to the Abbey on Thursday.

He said: “We’re hitting form at the right time, there are signs that we’re replicating what happened in 2017.

“Ipswich must be devastated, it must be hard for them. You can either say that they were bad or we were good.

“But you have to give our boys credit – we’ve beaten Poole and Ipswich away from home now, and they deserve that credit.

“The reserve are doing well, they made a big difference. I’m pleased for Claus (Vissing) he popped out well in heat 14 and earned a tremendous confidence boost.

“That’s why I put him out instead of placing Tobiasz (Musielak) off of 15m.”

A bumper bank holiday crowd packed a sun-kissed Abbey Stadium, with many watching the Robins in action for the very first time.

Despite the meeting’s stop-start early nature, Rossiter ended the night positive that the club’s latest batch of fans left the stadium pleased with the evening’s entertainment.

The same positive vibes couldn’t be repeated regarding the night’s financial return for the club, though.

And that’s largely due to the sheer size of the hosts’ win.

Rossiter added: “It’s a positive night for the club, but the good deed of the crowd will go straight back to the riders because they scored so many points.

“But so long as we can attract another good crowd on Thursday, it should settle things down a bit.

“There were a lot of new people in the crowd tonight, and some of the decisions (at the start of the meeting) could’ve been let go to allow the meeting to flow.

“Paul Clarington (referee) is a bit old school – but it didn’t do a great job for the neutral.”