SPEEDWAY LIVE: Birmingham Brummies 44 Swindon Robins 46 (From This Is Wiltshire)

10:47pm

Troy Batchelor was the Robins top scorer this evening

TROY BATCHELOR

“We did pretty well without Hans, and I am not saying we don’t want him, but we covered pretty well for him,” he said.

“We were 10 points down and Rosco didn’t even use a tactical, because he was waiting for me to go out and use it but the boys pulled it back really quickly.

“We came back and got the win and that is good going into the play-offs now, and it is good to be coming back here where we know we can win.

“We have the psychological advantage now I think, and if we can ride well again next week we should be fine.”

10:46pm

10:44pm

Robins boss Alun Rossiter is proud of the way his riders went about clawing back the Brummies' 10point lead this evening, and is looking forward to returning to Perry Barr in the play-offs.

ALUN ROSSITER

“It was a great performance by everybody and I am really pleased because they all dug-deep and came away with some points,” he said.

“It looked like it was going away from us, but the way we came back was great because we have put a good marker down now for the play-offs.

“We didn’t have Hans and we didn’t have Jason, but saying that Seb (Alden) has come in and done a fantastic job for us tonight.”

10:08pm

9:26pm

Heat 15: Kildemand, Batchelor, Ulamek, King. 59.9 (44-46)
The Robins duo win it from the gate to claim a superb comeback win.

9:18pm

Heat 14: Covatti, Alden, Auty, Morris. 60.8 (43-41)
Covatti beats Alden in a physical race, but it looks as though the Robins are going to pick up a 3-3 before Auty passes Morris.

9:14pm

Heat 13: Pedersen, Batchelor, Kildemand, Barker. 59.7 (39-39)
Pedersen exits the first bend first to claim the win and keep things level.

8:59pm

Coventry 41 Peterborough 33 in the other play-off related meeting this evening. Looks like it will be Lakeside.

8:56pm

Great effort from the Robins to level things up here, no reason why they can't go on and win it now.

8:53pm

Heat 12 (re-run): Kildemand, Alden, Smolinski, King FX. 60.2 (36-36)
King is excluded after pushing Kildemand into the fence, and after one aborted re-run the Robins duo levelled things up with an easy 5-1.

8:49pm

Red lights on again in heat 12 after an unsatisfactory start

8:44pm

Superb race between King and Kildemand ends with the Robins man hitting the fence, and the Brummies captain is excluded from the re-run. Kildemand looking very quick tonight.

8:42pm

Heat 11: Batchelor, Stead, Covatti, Barker. 60.2 (35-31)
Great team riding from the Robins duo as they pull their side back into it.

8:36pm

Heat 10: Kildemand, Ulamek, Morris, Pedersen. 59.2 (34-26)
Kildemand gets to the first corner alongside Pedersen, and it is the Robins man who uses his body well to ease his way through to take the win.

8:32pm

Heat Nine (re-run): Auty, Batchelor, King, Lampart. 60.5 (32-22)
Lampart goes down with Batchelor leading, but the Aussie leads for three and three quarter laps of the re-run before Auty spectacularly takes the win in the final corner.

8:21pm

Lampart goes down and is excluded from the re-run of heat nine

8:19pm

Heat Eight: Alden, Ulamek, Smolinski, Stead. 60.3 (28-20)
Alden makes a great start and is joined by Stead, but the Brit falls to the back despite looking quick.

8:13pm

Heat Seven: Barker, Morris, KIldemand, Covatti. 59.8 (25-17)
Barker wins from the front with Kildemand close behind, but the Dane suffers mechanical problems on the line but is only beaten by Morris.

8:08pm

Heat Six: Batchelor, Ulamek, Pedersen, Alden. 59.7 (22-13)
Batchelor wins it from the gate, but Alden goes down at the back after a four-lap battle with the out of sorts Pedersen.

8:04pm

Alden has two on the trot, so the riders are only just going on two minutes for heat six.

7:59pm

Heat Five: King, Stead, Auty, Alden. 59.3 (19-10)
Stead is passed by Auty early one, but the Robins man is clearly the faster rider and gets through for second.

7:55pm

Heat Four : Batchelor, Smolinski, Barker, Lampart. 60.3

Batchelor takes and easy win from the tapes.

7:49pm

Hans Andersen took a knock in Poland on Sunday, tried riding on it last night andhad a reaction so has been given the night off

HANS ANDERSEN

7:47pm

Heat Three: King, Kildemand, Auty, Morris. 59.3 (12-6)
Good start from the Robins pair, but Morris loses his line and is eventually passed by both Brummies riders.

7:44pm

Still trying to find out why Hans is absent this evening, will know more after the meeting.

7:42pm

Heat Two: Alden, Covatti, Smolinski, Lampart. 59.5 (8-4)
All four riders reach the first turn at once, but while Seb Alden muscles his way to the front and wins the heat, Lampart is forced to the back.

7:39pm

Heat One: Ulamek, Pedersen, Morris, Stead. 59.1 (5-1)
The Brummies duo win it from the gate.

7:36pm

Bit of a delay here, but the riders are out for heat one with Nick Morris taking the RR ride in place of Hans Andersen

7:29pm

It would seem there is no Hans Andersen this evening, with the Robins operating rider replacement at number one.

7:28pm

7:27pm

Jason Doyle is on Premier League duty with Somerset and is replaced by Seb Alden, and Rossiter is pleased with the role the Swede has played this season despite not being involved in as many meetings as he would have liked.

SEB ALDEN

“Seb did well at the start of the season at Birmingham and also rode well at Coventry, but he rides in Sweden which means he is riding on a lot of Thursdays, so it has been hard for him.

“We would have liked to have used him more because he has been riding brilliantly in the Premier League for Berwick and got a maximum for them recently, but unfortunately it hasn’t worked out like that.

“I wanted to get him in for a home meeting too but it didn’t happen, but he has contributed and has been part of what we have done this season.”

7:24pm

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7:24pm

The Robins will find out their play-off opponents after tonight’s meeting, but Rossiter is not expecting a quick return to Perry Barr or a surprise semi-final clash against the Pirates

NEIL MIDDLEDITCH AND ALUN ROSSITER COULD GO HEAD TO HEAD IN THE FINAL

“I imagine that Poole will probably choose to go back to Birmingham, and we will be left with either Lakeside or Peterborough, whichever one of them gets in.

“I am not overly bothered either way because we need to beat whoever we are up against, and we will just have to wait and see.

“I am not expecting Poole to want to ride us in the semis, but you never know, although I don’t think it will happen.”

7:23pm

While the Brummies will earn a place in the play-offs as long as they do not lose by more than 12, boss Phil Morris sees no reason why they can't win tonight's meeting.

PHIL MORRIS

“If we do that then we haven’t got to worry about what Peterborough do, points difference or anything.

“The lads were 10-2 down after two heats on Monday against Poole and if we can avoid that against Swindon I think we can beat them.

“It’s a massive night and I’d urge all our fans and the people of Birmingham to come down and get behind us.”

7:12pm

Although the Robins' play-off fate does not depend on this evening, boss Alun Rossiter has vowed not to take things too easy.

ALUN ROSSITER

“We know that tonight’s meeting is not life or death for us now because we can’t finish top, but we want to finish as close behind Poole as we can, so we want to win,” he said.

“We want to go into the play-offs full of confidence and winning at Birmingham is a good way to do that, but it is no good going out there and being silly.

“We saw in heat 15 on Monday night that Chris Holder and Darcy Ward didn’t bust a gut to get past Ben Barker and settled for a 3-3, and while we will race hard, we need to remember the play-offs are coming and be sensible.”

7:10pm

Good evening and welcome to a big night of racing here at Perry Barr, where Swindon round-off their regular season programme with a meeting against the Birmingham Brummies.

The Robins have already secured their spot in the top two and will learn their play-off semi-final opposition after tonight's meeting, but the home side need to a avoid a big defeat this evening to seal their spot.

The spotlight will also be on the meeting between Coventry and Peterborough at Brandon, where the patched-up Panthers will be looking for a win against the Bees to take the last spot in the play-offs.