ALUN Rossiter was left fuming by another referee decision that he felt cost his side victory at Elite League leaders King’s Lynn Stars.

His Robins lost the meet by a single point and the one point earned was not enough to lift his side into the play-off places.

But the Swindon chief felt that referee Margaret Vardy was wrong to exclude Peter Kildemand in heat 11, saying that the Dane was still under power when the heat was stopped.

The race was a 3-0 award to Swindon, but Rossiter felt that it should have been a 5-0 to his side.

“The referee has just cost us the meeting tonight,” the Robins chief said. “He (Kildemand) was clearly still under power.

“The rule is under power, not racing. She said that he wasn’t racing, but there were only three riders in the race, he kept going – that should have been a 5-0 and we would have had the points tonight.

“These people have got to understand that this is our business, our livelihoods. It is alright for them, they can go home and go back to their day jobs, it is our livelihoods that they are messing about.”

The Swindon chief was not just unhappy about the standard of the refereeing last night but across the whole Elite League this term.

He said: “The referee standards this year have been absolutely atrocious – there has got to be a big shake up.

“It is not ‘Rosco is on one again’, it was quite clearly, quite simply he (Kildemand) was still under power, the rule is under power – he doesn’t have to race.

“I don’t know how you’d change it but that is not down to me. There has got to be a massive overhaul of them, the standard has been absolutely appalling – I’m just very disillusioned.”

Rossiter says that he will not need to pick his side up for tonight’s rearranged meet with Lakeside Hammers after bank holiday Monday’s meet was rained off.

“The boys are fine. Anybody would have said beforehand, got a point (at King’s Lynn) and be happy, we should have had the lot tonight,” he said.

The Robins travelled to Norfolk at full strength with number one rider Kildemand back in the side following his head injury.

Rossiter’s men, who despite missing out on riding on Bank Holiday Monday, came into this meet at King’s Lynn on the back of an impressive 52-41 success at the Abbey Stadium last Thursday.

The hosts started well against the Robins gaining three 4-2s from the opening three heats.

Stars’ number one Niels-Kristian Iversen took the opening session as Robins’ top man Kildemand struggled to get anywhere near the rest.

In heat two Lewis Kerr took the gate to lead his side home, while Robins’ youngster Nathan Greaves battled hard but was unable to hold off the challenge of Simon Lambert in the battle for third.

Robins skipper Troy Batchelor fought hard in heat three but he could not find a way past Kenneth Bjerre as the Stars claimed a 12-6 lead.

Nick Morris, in his new position at two, claimed the first win of the night for Robins in heat four, with Simon Lambert and Nicklas Porsing trailing behind.

It appeared that the normal 4-2 Stars service was restored in heat five as the in-form Dakota North held on for second in a real tussle for Iversen.

The Robins took the first maximum of the night in the sixth heat as Batchelor led from the second bend with Kildemand following to bring the visitors back to within four points.

North’s fine night continued in the following heat as he held off the challenge of Kerr, but Steve Worrall was unable to make an impression.

Morris and Simon Gustafsson, who had a night to forget, led Swindon home for the second maximum of the night in heat eight to draw the two teams level.

In the second reserve battle of the night it was the Stars duo Kerr and Simon Lambert gating to win.

While Greaves did well to keep control of his bike at the end of the first lap, Worrall battled hard to take second.

Swindon’s Swede then saw his night come to end in heat 10 when he was excluded after going down at the first corner as the Stars opened up a 32-28 lead despite a fine ride from Batchelor.

Drama arrived at the start of heat 11 when Bjerre’s back packed up before the tapes and was replaced by Kerr.

However, the Stars replacement retired in the first lap, while Kildemand was deemed not to be racing as Rory Schlein went down at the start of the third lap leaving North declared the winner and Rossiter fuming at the decision to exclude his Dane.

Robins duo Morris and Worrall gated well in heat 12, but Robert Lambert battled for second as the Aussie took the heat victory.

The Stars gained their first maximum of the night, their 50th of the season, as Iversen and Bjerre led Kildemand and Batchelor home.

Another great ride from North in the penultimate heat helped send the visitors into the final race of the night trailing by just one point.

In the finale Batchelor made a great start and held on for the heat win, but North tailed off to finish fourth giving the Stars victory by one point.