ALUN Rossiter hailed his battling Blunsdon heroes and then launched a scathing attack on referee Ronnie Allan after a dramatic night of speedway ended in stalemate at the Abbey Stadium, writes GARETH MOORHOUSE.

Three riders were forced to retire hurt - with Swindon's Seb Alden taken to hospital with an ankle injury - as Robins drew 45-45 with Belle Vue Aces following a thrilling last-heat decider.

With the rider replacement facility already operating for the injured Troy Batchelor, Swindon were reduced to just four fit riders from heat eight onwards.

First Manuel Hauzinger hit the shale and then Alden went flying into the fence in a twice re-run heat seven, which saw both riders ruled out for the rest of the meeting.

When the paramedics finally departed, the Aces - minus Billy Forsberg who withdrew after a fall in heat three - opened up a four point lead.

But the Robins came roaring back, winning two races with just one rider, to leave the meeting deadlocked at 42-42 heading into the final heat.

It looked as though all the hard work would go to waste when Jason Crump took the chequered flag in the fastest time of the night.

But an engine failure for Aces' guest Kevin Doolan on the final bend allowed Mads Korneliussen to steal a point and deserved draw for the valiant Robins.

"Full credit to the four boys who dug in deep. They were fantastic and I can't fault any of them," said Rossiter.

"That was a wonderful performance with our backs to the wall. This is what my team is all about.

"If you had asked anyone if we would draw being down to one rider in three heats they would have said no chance - I'm so proud of them all."

Despite promising to go easy on the officials this season, Rossiter let referee Allan know exactly what he thought of Seb Alden's controversial exclusion from heat seven.

"It would have been a travesty if we had lost tonight because it was a very poor decision by Ronnie to exclude Seb. To be honest it was absolutely scandalous," he said.

"Charlie blatantly took Seb out. I'm not saying he did it on purpose, but he took him out simple as that.

"He cut across Seb's line and sent him over the handlebars. Seb was excluded and he was out for the rest of the night, and then it was really backs against the wall."

With the Robins back in Elite League action at Coventry tonight, Rossiter was in panic mode desperately trying to scrape a team together.

With Batchelor, Hauzinger and Alden and Swindon number eight Cory Gathercole all consigned to the treatment table, the Swindon chief was up until the early hours making phone calls.

Lewis Bridger, James Holder and Morten Risager have all been mentioned as possible replacements.