SWINDON are safely through to the Knockout Cup semi-finals after a 51-39 win victory over Rye House at the Abbey on Thursday.

Leading by eight points going into the meeting after the first leg, the Robins’ aggregate position was rarely threatened, but the Rockets certainly did their best in an entertaining clash full of good racing.

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.

Kiwi Bradley Wilson-Dean, voted man of the match, did much for his confidence with two early wins, beating a visibly upset Edward Kennett in heat one and Chris Harris two races later.

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 although his run was ended by Scott Nicholls in another high-speed tussle which went right to the line in Heat 9 – and turned out to be his only loss 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 to grab a maximum with Grondal in the penultimate race.

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.

"Nick and Jason are there to get the 5-1s at the end, and although I was criticised by a certain few for persevering with Nick, at the end of the day I knew what was to come.”

PREMIERSHIP KO CUP, 2nd leg

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.

Swindon win 100-80 on aggregate.