ROBINS boss Alun Rossiter and captain Troy Batchelor have both backed young reserve Nathan Greaves to be a trump card for the club this season as long as he can sort his equipment issues out.

The 16-year-old youngster made his first appearance at the Abbey Stadium last night, as the Robins beat Belle Vue 42-33 in a meeting abandoned after heat 12 due to visibility issues, and introduced himself to his new fans in the best possible way with a storming victory in his first ride.

However, he did so on Simon Gustafsson’s bike after problems with his own machinery following a collision in the first staging of heat two left him up against it to make it to the tapes before the two-minute allowance ran out.

Having only totalled two points in his first three Swindon meetings on his own machinery, using Gustafsson’s bike allowed the teenager to show his true ability and Rossiter believes a fully-powered Greaves could prove vital to Swindon.

“He looked so comfortable on Simon’s bikes and hopefully he’s going away to have a look at them now and get them re set-up, because he showed what he’s really capable of,” he said.

“He’s spent £5,500 on an engine so he’s not afraid to spend the money but something’s not quite right with a few other things.

“We can help him and Dakota’s (North) gone in and had a little chat with his dad and hopefully we can help him there because if we can it will give us a real boost from reserve.”

Captain Batchelor was similarly impressed and has backed the youngster to make the grade as long as he continues to work hard.

“He rode really well in that race and it shows he’s got a bit of talent, but I think he needs to work on equipment because speedway is about that as well as the rider,” he said.

“I’ve been there and I know what he’s going through so hopefully if he calms down he can start scoring some points. He’s got a long way to go but I think he’ll get there.

“It was a shame the meeting was called off early but it wasn’t safe out there and it’s good we got all the points.”