SWINDON Robins had to make do with a 45-45 draw at home to Poole Pirates this evening as their Bank Holiday double header yielded a single SGB Premiership point.

Eight points up after seven heats, Swindon looked on course to avenge their earlier heavy defeat away at the Pirates with victory in the reverse fixture back on home shale.

However, Poole rallied in the second half of the meeting at the Abbey Stadium to twice level matters, before they looked like snatching overall victory in a heat 15 decider and inflicting a pointless day on the Robins.

However, a gutsy late pass from Troy Batchelor on Nicolai Klindt earned him third place behind new-team Rasmus Jensen to nullify Jack Holder’s win to share the heat and make it all-square overall on the night.

That second place capped a superb first meeting as a Swindon rider for Jensen – who has been drafted into replace Dawid Lampart – as the Dane top scored with 14+1 points from six rides, while Batchelor (11+1) and Adam Ellis (11) also impressed.

Swindon had earlier been comprehensively beaten in the afternoon’s reverse meeting, going down 51-39 at Wimborne Road.

A heavy crash for Tobiasz Musielak on the south coast ended his Bank Holiday racing after only one ride, with the Pole ruled out of the evening’s fixture at the Abbey altogether.

That summed up a tough first battle for Rossiter’s troops as a poor showing saw them trail by 18 points after 10 heats, before cutting that deficit to 12 over the final five.

Three riders – Jason Doyle (12), Ellis (11) and Batchelor (10+1) – collected 33 of the Robins’ 39 points at Poole, although the five scored by reserve Ellis Perks on debut was some consolation from the meeting.

As well as being without Musielak throughout their evening meeting, Swindon were restricted to just three rides from skipper Doyle, and team manager Rossiter felt those loses had a big bearing on his team’s failure to take victory on the night.

Rossiter said: “We should have won but losing Jason in heat 13 was a big blow – he aggravated his shoulder in his previous race.

“It was always going to be a tough ask after that, but I think it is one that has got away, to be quite honest.

“We have finished the day with one draw but it is difficult as we had already lost Tobiasz and then we lost Jason.

“It is hard to replace what Tobiasz does. His rides scored six paid seven when he usually scores double figures easily. You can point the finger there, but it is tough on the boys to fill in.

“The positive is the performance from Rasmus – he was fantastic. He got stuck in and had a real go and that is very pleasing to see.”

Swindon looked like having plenty to shout about in the evening fixture as new boy Jensen got off to a dream start as the Dane took victory in his first ride in Robins colours.

It should really have been a second place as the biggest concern for Swindon in heat one was when Doyle looked over his shoulder, forcing Jensen to scoot around him to avoid a collision as the home side opened up with a 5-1 win.

The hosts then had a big let-off as Nico Covatti retired from the lead on the last lap of race two, allowing Swindon to turn a 5-1 deficit into a 3-3 draw.

Jensen continued his strong start in race three, following Ellis home as Swindon claimed another maximum.

Nikolaj Busk Jakobsen was providing a rare bright spark for the visitors early on and he followed up his victory in heat two with another in heat four before Holder made it back-to-back wins for Poole in the next to make it 17-13 after five.

Swindon soon returned to form as Jensen led home Doyle for another 5-1 in race six before Batchelor took the spoils for the Robins in a shared heat seven.

The Pirates then began to pull back into the meeting as Richie Worrall won race eight and Covatti did likewise in number nine – the latter doing so ahead of Holder for a Poole maximum.

Klindt kept up Poole’s winning run in the 10th contest, although Jensen and Doyle were at least able to share the spoils as Swindon led 31-29 overall.

However, the scores were all-square after the next as Holder made it four Pirates race wins in a row.

Ellis was able to stop the rot for Swindon with victory in heat 12 – although it looked like being so much more as Perks held second for three laps, only for Klindt to sneak by.

A cracking race then unfolded in heat 13 as Holder and Batchelor duelled for the first two laps before the Poole man got the better of it to level up the overall scores once more.

Ellis produced a big ride to win a shared heat 14 for Swindon, meaning it was all-square heading into the evening’s finale.

Poole looked like snatching an unlikely win courtesy of Holder’s dominant ride ahead of Jensen, but Batchelor pulled off a blinding pass on Klindt on the penultimate lap to snatch third and share the heat to earn the Robins a draw on the night.

SWINDON ROBINS 45 POOLE PIRATES 45

SWINDON: Jason Doyle 5+3 (2’-2’-1’), Rasmus Jensen (G) 14+1 (3-2’-3-2-2-2), Tobiasz Musielak R/R, Adam Ellis 11 (3-2-R-3-3), Troy Batchelor 11+1 (2-3-1-2-2-1’), Zach Wajtknecht 2 (2-0-0-0-0), Ellis Perks 2+1 (1’-R-R-1-0).

POOLE: Jack Holder 14+1 (R-3-2’-3-3-3), Richie Worrall 7 (1-1-3-1-1), Nicolai Klindt 9 (1-1-2-3-2-0), Josh Grajczonek 3+1 (R-1’-0-2), Brady Kurtz R/R, Nico Covatti 3 (R-0-3-0), Nikolaj Busk Jakobsen 9+2 (3-3-1’-1-1’).