ALUN Rossiter insists that he won’t have to lay down any motivational mantras for his Swindon Robins riders ahead of next week’s decisive clash with the Coventry Bees.

The Robins slipped to a 49-41 defeat in the first leg of their Elite League play-off semi-final at Brandon on Monday night but despite a meeting where not everything went his side’s way, the Abbey Stadium chief is backing his side to bite back in the second leg next week.

“I don’t have reiterate anything. They know what they’ve got to do,” said Rossiter.

“There’s no point to keep going on and on and on – they know what’s happened, they know what they’ve got to do next week, so it’s just a matter of getting out and doing what we do every week at Swindon.

“We just need to park this for now. This one’s finished and we’ll move on now and get ready for next Monday.

“We made a few mistakes (last night) and it should have been closer but I’m not too downbeat about it – eight points is definitely doable.

“I’m not disheartened but we let ourselves down a little. We should have done better. It should have been four points at least.

“We’re all battling for a final and we could have made life a little bit easier but I’m sure that the boys will pick it up ready for Swindon next week.”

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Peter Kildemand leads out in heat one

In the opening heat of the night, a fantastic second corner from Peter Kildemand ensured that he expertly drifted past Kyle Howarth and former Robins skipper Hans Andersen before bringing home the win, but with Nick Morris unable to catch up with the chasing pack, it ended 3-3.

Nathan Greaves’ evening got off to a disappointing start as, after battling all the way with James Sarjeant, the Swindon reserve came off his bike and careered into his opposite number, with the second heat red-flagged and youngster Greaves disqualified.

In the re-run, Steve Worrall was unable to catch Jason Garrity after being beaten to the gate, with the Bees taking it 4-2.

In the third heat of the evening, newly-crowned Elite League Riders’ champion Troy Batchelor couldn’t get the better of the Bees’ Chris Harris, who cruised to a comfortable victory, but with Simon Gustafsson easily keeping Aaron Summers at bay, it was 3-3 again.

The hosts showed their teeth in heat four as Rossiter’s men found themselves on the wrong end of a 5-1 scoreline.

With Greaves retiring, Morris looked as though he’d held off the challenge of Kenneth Hansen but there was a sting in the tail in the penultimate lap as the Robins man was overtaken, and with Garrity romping to his second heat win of the evening, the home side moved into the ascendancy.

Gustafsson attempted to grab the bull by the horns in the fifth as he scorched past Andersen and Harris at the gate before blazing home in less than 60 seconds to take a spectacular heat victory but in his first outing, Dakota North failed to make an impact and the two sides played out their third 3-3 draw of the evening.

Swindon’s dynamic duo stepped up to the plate in heat six to cut the deficit back to two points with a 5-1 of their own.

Kildemand assuredly brought home the win whilst skipper Batchelor slipped past Hansen before slamming the door shut to notch up a maximum for the Robins.

North sparked into life in heat seven as he powered his way past Garrity coming out of the first corner before racing into a comfortable lead but in the second lap, Worrall was overtaken as the Bees snatched a draw to maintain their narrow lead.

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Simon Gustafsson digs in to win in heat eight

The hosts plumped for Garrity again in the eighth but the Coventry man was left as a spectator as Gustafsson and Morris engaged in a thrilling battle with Hansen and it was Swindon’s Swedish star took the win, with Morris third to notch up a 4-2 victory and move the two sides back to level pegging.

In heat nine, Greaves put his earlier troubles behind him as he confidently worked his way into an early lead, with Worrall offering up solid support, but the Swindon duo were eventually passed by a smart move by Sarjeant and despite Garrity crashing out as he took to the track for a third time in a row, parity remained as the two teams notched up yet another 3-3.

Batchelor and Gustafsson lined up for heat number ten but suffered an outing to forget as the latter lost balance and was sent skidding to the turf coming out of the second turn and with the Robins captain unable to keep up with a rampant Howarth and Andersen, the Bees moved back into the lead with a maximum.

Coventry pressed the issue home in the 11th, with Summers and home captain muscling past Kildemand and carving out a second successive 5-1, with North skidding coming out of the first turn and crashing out as the Bees stretched their lead to eight points.

The Robins hit back with a 4-2 win in heat 12, with Morris racking up a comfortable victory by holding off the attentions of Sarjeant, who came in after Garrity was disqualified for touching the tapes, whilst Worrall was forced to hold his nerve to clinch a vital third-place ahead of a spirited Howarth.

The two teams’ heavyweights clashed in heat 13 and after taking the lead with a spectacular drift around the outside, Batchelor fought off the attentions of opposition skipper Harris to take the race win.

Kildemand had the door shut on him by Harris but was far enough ahead of Andersen to take third place and rack up a second 4-2 Swindon win in a row.

Worrall and North were next up to spearhead the Swindon fightback but their efforts got off to a disastrous start as the former cut across his Australian team-mate coming out of the third bend and was disqualified after knocking North from his bike, with the tumbling Swindon rider in turn taking out Garrity as his bike flew across the track.

In the heat 14 re-run, North battled valiantly but after being passed by Hansen early on, the Swindon man was then eventually overtaken by Garrity as Coventry hit back late on with their third 5-1 of the night.

The Robins’ final gambit saw the trusty partnership of Kildemand and Batchelor thrust into the action in heat 15 against Harris and Hansen.

Home captain Harris continued his imperious form as he cruised home to victory but the Swindon duo took second and third to ensure that the final outing of the evening was drawn, leaving Rossiter’s men with an eight-point gap to overturn in the return leg at the Abbey.