Swindon bid to get their play-off challenge back on track when they visit Wolverhampton in a big Premiership encounter on Monday (7.30pm).
The CFS Filtration Robins have seen a comfortable position in the top four eroded by recent home defeats to Somerset and then Belle Vue last Thursday, and now urgently need to improve their away record.
Robins won their first two matches on the road in 2018, at Poole and Leicester, but have taken just one point from eight subsequent away matches.
And now they know gaining some reward from either Monmore Green or Poole on Wednesday, or preferably both, could be crucial to retaining their position in the play-off places.
The match against Wolves is especially significant as the current league table shows the Black Country side as a direct rival, whilst other fixtures on Monday involving Somerset facing Poole and Belle Vue taking on bottom club Leicester will have an effect on matters overall.
But Robins have to focus on their own job, and boss Alun Rossiter is demanding a “play-off mentality” from his side as they head to Monmore.
It’s three years since Swindon won a regular league match at Wolverhampton, coming at a time when they were inspired by mid-season signing Darcy Ward, but they did of course memorably win 47-42 in the second leg of the Grand Final last year.
And Rossiter insists the track should hold no fears, even though Wolves have been strong as usual on their own circuit with just one league defeat so far.
Rossiter said: “We’ve given ourselves a lot of work to do because of what happened on Thursday, and having lost at home it’s time to turn things around on the road.
“There have been away matches recently where we should have got something but we haven’t, and now it’s the time when we have to get everything together.
“We went to Wolverhampton in the Final last year two days after losing at home, and the mentality was there that we were still going to win. We need that play-off mentality again on Monday.
“It’s a track we can ride if we put our minds to it – we must have the right attitude and be ready for it.”
Swindon are unchanged from Thursday’s defeat to Belle Vue, whilst Wolves also hope to be at full strength pending the return of Nathan Greaves after a recent crash at Glasgow.
Since the sides last met at the Abbey in late July, Wolves have recruited Danish racer Jonas B Andersen, who impressed on his debut a fortnight ago as a replacement for Cameron Heeps.
WOLVERHAMPTON: Rory Schlein, Kyle Howarth, Jonas B Andersen, Sam Masters, Jacob Thorssell, Ashley Morris, Nathan Greaves.
SWINDON: Troy Batchelor, David Bellego, Adam Ellis, Tobiasz Musielak, Nick Morris, Zach Wajtknecht, Jack Smith.
