FUMING Gary Patchett has accused two of his top riders of ‘a lack of professionalism’ following Swindon’s crushing 59-33 defeat to Eastbourne on Saturday.

While the emphatic nature of the loss riled the Robins co-owner enough, it was the conduct of number one Scott Nicholls and Danish charger Nicolai Klindt that cemented his annoyance, with neither rider properly prepared for the 4pm start.

The meeting began around 20 minutes late and Nicholls found himself penalised for a tape violation in heat one, before later crashing on a tactical ride on his way to a score of five.

Klindt enjoyed a better time of it but despite his haul of 11, including a six-point black-and-white-helmet ride, he did not escape the ire of Patchett.

The co-owner said: “I’m not happy when riders and/or their equipment are turning up 15 minutes before a meeting is scheduled to start.

“It’s a lack of professionalism in my book and it’s not good enough. They wouldn’t do it for an individual meeting so why do it for a team meeting?

“There might be excuses with traffic but the referee lives in the Midlands and he managed to get there.

“You can forgive a lot of things, I know he (Nicholls) has got a lot going on in his personal life, but to be on time for a four o’clock meeting isn’t a big ask.”

Speaking on the team as a whole following the 12th defeat of the season, Patchett added that he wanted each rider to do some soul-searching before the next outing at King’s Lynn on Wednesday.

“These guys are professional sportsman and if they think they are falling short, then something’s wrong somewhere,” he said.

“Each and every rider needs to take a long, hard look at themselves and have a think about whether their contributions are acceptable in terms of what both they and the club expect of them.

“If they can hand on heart say they have done the best that they can, then they’ve got nothing to worry about.”

None of Swindon’s riders could afford to be particularly pleased with their work at Eastbourne on Saturday as they were subjected to a severe thumping at the hands of the play-off chasers.

Managed temporarily by Ronnie Russell in the absence of regular boss Jan Staechmann due to his media commitments at the Italian Grand Prix, the Abbey Stadium side never challenged their hosts as they won a woeful two heats out of 15.

For the Eagles Bjarne Pedersen (paid 15) and Joonas Kylmakorpi (paid 18) enjoyed a bumper time of it, while British youngster Lewis Bridger was only one point short of a maximum on 14.