SWINDON Robins stayed the course to bounce back to winning ways at the first time of asking against the Lakeside Hammers this evening.

Smarting from a heavy defeat at Poole Pirates last night, Alun Rossiter’s men held their nerve to claim a 50-39 win at the Abbey Stadium, their third triumph in four Elite League meetings.

The two sides traded blows as Charles Wright and guest Robert Branford took advantage of Adam Ellis’ fall and disqualification to rack up a maximum in heat two before the visitors hit straight back with a 5-1 scoreline of their own, Edward Kennett and Andreas Jonsson getting the better of Swindon captains past and present in Troy Batchelor and Hans Andersen.

Grzegorz Zengota’s dominant heat victory in the fourth race of the evening wasn’t fully rewarded as the outing was drawn whilst the returning Kyle Howarth, guesting against the team that released him weeks earlier, claimed his own personal piece of revenge by winning the fifth.

The Hammers edged ahead with a 4-2 win in heat six as Zengota suffered a technical hitch and Andersen was bested by Kennett but a piece of Australian magic from Batchelor and Ward saw them record a superb maximum against Kennett and Richard Lawson in the next race.

Zengota added another race win in the eighth but the Hammers got themselves back on level terms once again in heat nine as Ellis and Lawson claimed a 4-2 win over Eduard Krcmar and Branford.

A nip and tuck affair rumbled on heading in to heat 11, where Ward showed his class as, after being beaten down the inside by the in-form Kennett, the Robins number one blazed past his Lakeside opponent coming out of turn four.

Meanwhile, Krcmar battled valiantly further back and got the better of ex-Swindon man Howarth to help his side eke ahead.

Swindon’s chances suffered a blow heading in to heat 13 as Wright, injured in Wednesday night’s loss at the Poole Pirates, could battle through the pain barrier no longer and withdrew from the meeting.

But in his stead, a heroic ride from guest Branford saw him hold off both Paul Starke and Ellis and despite the latter falling from his bike, the young Aussie was awarded a deserved and vital victory.

That set the stage for Ward and Batchelor to drive the issue home and they duly obliged with a dominant maximum against Jonsson and Lawson in the 13th.

Zengota and Andersen then combined to widen the gap of victory in the penultimate race of the evening before Ward gave the home fans one last reason to cheer as he signed off in style by winning heat 15 in domineering fashion.