Swindon is safely through to the Knockout Cup semi-finals after a 51-39 win over Rye House at the Abbey on Thursday evening.
Leading by eight points going into the meeting after last weekend’s victory at Hoddesdon, the Carpets4Less Robins’ aggregate position was rarely threatened, but the Rockets made quite a fight of the second leg. In fact, the scores were level on the night with three heats to go before Swindon finished with three successive 5-1s to send the crowd home happy.
Bradley Wilson-Dean made a spectacular start to the meeting with wins in both Heats 1 and 3, taking the major scalps of Edward Kennett and Chris Harris in the process.
The gap between the teams on the night was never more than two points prior to Heat 13, with both taking turns to hold a narrow advantage.
Race of the night was a stunning Heat 7 in which the Robins held the early lead through Emil Grondal and Nick Morris only for Harris to surge from third to first in trademark style. Morris, however, wasn’t to be outdone and re-passed the former British Champion before holding off a strong return challenge to take a terrific win.
That was Morris’s second victory of the night although Scott Nicholls ended his run in another high-speed tussle, which went right to the line in Heat 9, and turned out to be his only defeat to an opponent in six rides.
The Robins finally pulled clear with a rapid 5-1 from Morris and skipper Jason Doyle in Heat 13, which was followed by a tremendous effort from David Bellego to go past Ellis Perks and then Davey Watt on the line and grab a maximum with Grondal. Morris and Doyle then flew from the start to get the better of Nicholls and Harris in Heat 15 as the Robins eased into the last four of the competition.
Manager Alun Rossiter said: “It was what the crowd like to see – a nice, close, tense meeting, but our top-end boys are really going at the moment. ”The other boys are still feeling their way in, it’s only their second home meeting, and we knew this would be a close meeting on perhaps a more leveling track than Rye House.
“Nick and Jason are there to get the 5-1s at the end, and although I was criticized by a certain few for persevering with Nick, at the end of the day I knew what was to come. ”Last year wasn’t as bad as people made out for him, the potential has always been there and we’ve invested in him and got a rider who the fans can take to.” Robins return to SGB Premiership action on Easter Sunday with the high-profile home clash with Poole. Tapes up at 5pm. Rossiter is awaiting a fitness update on Adam Ellis, who practiced on Thursday and could be in line for a rapid return from injury.
SWINDON 51: Nick Morris 16+1, Jason Doyle 12+1, Bradley Wilson-Dean 10, David Bellego 7+2, Emil Grondal 6, Zach Wajtknecht 0, Adam Ellis r/r.
RYE HOUSE 39: Scott Nicholls 9, Chris Harris 8+1, Edward Kennett 6+1, Stuart Robson 6, Rob Branford 4, Ellis Perks 3+1, Davey Watt 3
