ROBINS boss Alun Rossiter remained upbeat despite his side's reverse at Poole.

He admitted the absence of Danish star Charlie Gjedde ultimately cost Swindon dear against league title rivals Poole Pirates.

But despite rueing the loss of Gjedde, who instead chose to race for homeland club Outrup, Rossiter claims there are a lot of positives to take into the remaining crucial fixtures of the Elite League season.

"Ultimately missing Charlie (Gjedde) cost us but there are a lot of positives to take from tonight," said Rossiter, pictured below.

"The boys did really well. Mads (Kornelliussen) was superb tonight as he always is at Poole. He came back well after the meeting on Monday and I'm chuffed for him.

"Corey (Gathercole) has come in for Charlie and unfortunately it didn't happen for him but he did well. In fairness though he was in a scoring position when his chain came off which was unfortunate."

As well as highlighting Gjedde's absence Rossiter also dubbed his side's gating as abysmal'.

"Our gating was abysmal tonight," he added. "We had a little meeting at the interval because we'd only won one heat in 10 up to heat 11.

"I would never criticise Leigh Adams because he is The Man' and we rely on him too heavily but even he struggled with his gating tonight.

"But we showed strength, used the tactical ride as it should be used, and forced the last-heat decider.

"Poole and everyone else thought we would come here and be beaten. They all thought they would wipe the floor with us and they didn't.

"I can take heart from that. If I'm honest, if we had come here and got a result it would have taken the pressure off the remaining matches. But I did not expect that and I am pleased with the performance.

"We will have Charlie back on Friday (for the trip to Reading) so that will help us and I'm looking forward to the run-in."

Swindon's four remaining fixtures see them travel to Reading tomorrow night, then to Ipswich on Saturday.

After that they travel to Belle Vue on Monday and then face what could be a crucial clash at Coventry a week later.