ALUN Rossiter made no effort to hide his disappointment at the challenge presented to his Swindon Robins as they claimed a comfortable three-point victory over Wolverhampton Wolves last night.

Swindon, who ruthlessly swept aside Lakeside Hammers 57-35 last week, notched up another dominant victory at the Abbey Stadium as they beat the Wolves 59-36 – but the make-up of the visitors’ line-up left the Robins team boss less than impressed.

With Wolverhampton recently cancelling the contract of Polish star Piotr Pawlicki, the visitors lined up with a rider replacement slot whilst reserve Tom Perry was their only club rider as the Wolves took to the track with no less than five guests.

Rossiter was concerned for the integrity of the meeting but was nontheless pleased to see his team keep their play-off push in fine fettle.

“We knew it was going to be a lot easier tonight because of the side they put out, which was a bit disappointing really,” said the Robins chief.

“It doesn’t do any good for the supporters. People don’t come out and watch it, which is a bit frustrating really.

“Generally, Wolves normally bring a few with them but they brought nobody tonight – it killed the gate.

“We’ve just got to worry about ourselves and not worry about anyone else.

“I think a couple of (my riders) at the start woke up in the end and realised it wasn’t going to be a walk in the park.

“The boys will get confidence now. Simon (Gustafsson) got heat 15, Nick (Morris) never dropped a point until heat 15 and Nathan (Greaves) certainly riding a lot better now, so it’s all positive at the moment.”

Peter Kildemand and Morris got the Robins off to the perfect start as they sublimely drifted into the lead in the early stages of heat one, with the two Swindon riders dovetailing beautifully to bring home a 5-1 victory over Michael Palm Toft and Justin Sedgmen.

Steve Worrall and Greaves threatened to pull off another maximum score in heat two, with Worrall leading from the start whilst Greaves provided support, but the Robins’ number six was eventually pipped to second place by Max Clegg.

That sparked an early fightback from the visitors, who notched up their own 5-1 salvo in heat three.

Palm Toft went shoulder-to-shoulder with Troy Batchelor in the early stages and the Dane brought home the win for the Wolves whilst Cameron Woodward doggedly held on to second place to see off the attentions of the Robins duo.

In heat four, the visitors’ Sedgmen took the outside track to ease into a comfortable lead before doing just enough to hold of the attentions of the determined Dakota North.

But Greaves won his own personal battle further down the field, with the Robins youngster getting ahead of Tom Perry in the first drawn heat of the night.

Swindon stirred back into life in heat five and six, with Rossiter’s men racking up back-to-back 5-1 wins to wrestle back control of the evening.

A delightful display from Kildemand and Batchelor saw them dominate Woodward and Lahti from start to finish to claim a maximum before Gustafsson and North did it all over again in six.

The Robins’ rider was cool, calm and collected as the rest of the field could only watch the Swede claim a comfortable victory.

Morris looked to have got off to a shaky start in heat seven but the Aussie rider recovered his balance well to bring home the win.

Meanwhile, Worrall was locked in an almighty battle with Lahti but the Swindon man eventually succumbed to his opponent on the final corner.

In a bid to get back into the meeting, the Wolves handed a tactical ride to Woodward, who went hell-for-leather as he ferociously tore away from the chasing pack.

Gustafsson gave chase in the later laps but with the Wolverhampton guest crossed the line first to rack up six points for his team.

Worrall comfortably took heat nine before the heat of the night reared its head in the tenth.

In the early laps, Morris lead whilst Kildemand was back in fourth but after Sedgmen inexplicably slowed coming round the second corner, the Robins rider scorched past both of his opponents to seal the home side’s fourth 5-1.

Wolves turned to a second tactical ride in the 11th, with Lahti donning the white and black helmet, but a crucial ride from Gustafsson saw him take first place to limit the damage as the Wolves man finished second.

Morris was in fine form again in heat 12 as took first place thanks to some controlled drifting before Kildemand and Batchelor linked up again in the 13th, with the Robins pair dominating Lahti and Palm Toft to press home the issue.

Not to be upstaged, North produced a moment of magic in the penultimate heat of the night.

The Swindon rider was third coming out of turn two but superbly sling-shotted himself into the lead to claim a spectacular victory.

The final action at the Abbey produced a thrilling last heat, with Gustafsson making great use of the outside track to take the win, with Morris almost pipping Woodward after the final turn.

THE draw has been made for the Elite League Riders Championship which is being staged at King’s Lynn on Thursday, September 25 (7.30pm).

Peter Kildemand and Troy Batchelor will represent Swindon.

Draw: 1 Bjarne Pedersen (Eastbourne), 2 Davey Watt (Lakeside), 3 Matej Zagar (Belle Vue), 4 Maciej Janowski (Poole), 5 Chris Harris (Coventry), 6 Vaclav Milik (Poole), 7 Richard Lawson (Lakeside), 8 Hans Andersen (Coventry), 9 Peter Kildemand (Swindon), 10 Scott Nicholls (Belle Vue), 11 Rory Schlein (King’s Lynn), 12 Tai Woffinden (Wolverhampton), 13 Jason Doyle (Leicester), 14 Danny King (Lakeside), 15 Troy Batchelor (Swindon), 16 Kenneth Bjerre (King’s Lynn).