ROBINS boss Alun Rossiter has challenged Simon Gustafsson to deliver in front of the home crowd following his impressive display at Eastbourne on Saturday night.

The Swede scored 15 points at the home of his parent club as the Robins slumped to a 54-37 defeat, earning himself more time to prove he deserves to hang onto his team place at Blunsdon.

However, boss Rossiter and rider Gustafsson are equally as aware that he must deliver at home and away if he is to ensure he remains a vital cog in the Robins’ system.

“It was always going to be a hard night for us but the big positive has to be that we could have seen Simon kick-start his season,” he said.

“He’d been struggling a little but he seemed like a different rider at times out there. He brought his girlfriend over for this and that really seemed to help and he should be going into Monday with bags of confidence.

“That’s the rider I thought I had brought to Swindon and I hadn’t even been close to seeing that, aside from maybe one meeting. Again, he should be beating the draft riders and he beat good riders on Saturday which is a real positive.

“He knows he needs to do it at all the tracks and hopefully he can do that on Monday night in front of the cameras.”

The Robins were victorious when the Aces first visited Blunsdon this season but Rossiter knows Matej Zagar is unlikely to endure as poor a night as he did when he only managed four on April 10.

“They had a couple of riders who weren’t firing before but we need to make sure we’re on our game and we have no slip ups,” he said.

“We’re on the TV and we really want to put on a good show in front of the cameras but it would be great to see a big crowd come out too.

“The weather’s looking good and it should be a really good meeting.”

The track shop on turn one at the Abbey Stadium will be open this evening, stocked with new merchandise including plenty many for children.