EIGHT points clear after seven races, the Robins looked set for victory against Poole Pirates in front of a big Easter Sunday crowd, writes Phil Rice.

But it was not to be as Poole then cleverly replaced Purton's Darryl Ritchings with fellow reserve Nicolai Klindt and he and Jack Holder claimed a vital 5-1 over Bradley Wilson-Dean and Zach Wajtknecht.

With Hans Hans Andersen and Klindt claiming a 4-2 over David Bellego and Adam Ellis in heat nine the deficit was reduced to two points.

Jason Doyle won the next race after coming from behind but Nick Morris never got off the start in heat 11 as Krzysztof Kasprzak took the race, resisting a strong challenge from Emil Grondal.

At 33-33 going into heat 12, Grondal replaced Ellis but Poole took a comfortable 5-1 – and the lead.

Heat 13 has this season generally seen the Robins take 5-1s but on this occasion a determined Andersen held off Doyle and Morris for a share of the points.

Bellego and Grondal briefly led Kurtz in the penultimate race but the Aussie claimed the second place leaving Swindon needing a 5-1 in the last race to win.

Morris raced clear and on turn two of the second lap Doyle moved Andersen out to the fence in a hard but fair move. However, in doing so he lost some speed allowing the Dane to claim the second spot and a share of the match points.

While many fans have criticised the make-up of the 2017 side, the one rider who has surprised the faithful is Bellego, whose three wins included two over 2016 Australian champion Brady Kurtz and the disappointing Kasprzak.

Wilson-Dean played his part in the Robins' early lead as he followed Doyle home for an easy 5-1 over the Pirates former world number two Kasprzak in heat one.

Ellis had made his return from injury and other than a point in race three struggled apparently because of engine problems and was replaced in his final heat.

Before the meeting there had been discussions about the rear tyres being used this season and eventually the sides agreed to race on the yellow-banded tyres which have drawn much criticism for the way they tend to disintegrate.

At one point during the meeting the referee was asked to intervene, and it is clear that something has to be done to appease riders after some heated criticism.

SCORERS SWINDON 45: Jason Doyle 11+1, David Bellego 11, Nick Morris 10, Emil Grondal 5+1, Bradley Wilson-Dean 4+1, Zach Wajtknecht 3+1, Adam Ellis 1.

POOLE 45: Hans Andersen 13, Nicolai Klindt 9+1, Brady Kurtz 8, Lewis Kerr 5+2, Krzysztof Kasprzak 5+1, Jack Holder 5+1, Darryl Ritchings 0.

The Robins are at Somerset on Friday for league action and the next home Premiership date is not until May 18 when King’s Lynn are at Blunsdon.

The Sprockets, however, entertain Plymouth at third-tier level on May 11.