SWINDON Robins plucked a display straight from the top drawer to dispatch rivals Poole Pirates and hand their Elite League play-off hopes another crucial shot in the arm tonight.

Inspired by a domineering performance from Rohan Tungate, who rampaged to 13 points, Alun Rossiter’s side kept themselves firmly in the hunt for a top-four position by beating last season’s champions, and despite being pushed all the way, they defeated the Pirates to get their hands on another precious three-point haul.

Rossiter’s troops had tasted defeat in all three of their meetings with their rivals so far this term, including a 30-point thumping at Wimborne Road on the opening day of the season, and were keen to buck the trend.

Charles Wright returned to action following concussion to complete a full-strength Robins line-up and Australian Grand Prix aces Jason Doyle and Chris Holder faced off in heat one, and after the Swindon duo started superbly, number two Justin Sedgmen saw his race literally go up in smoke as he broke down spectacularly when leading both Poole men.

The visitors struck the first major blow of the evening in heat two courtesy of Kyle Newman and Bjarne Pedersen’s 5-1 domination of Wright and Stefan Nielsen but Swindon produced the perfect response as Nick Morris and Josh Grajczonek roared back with a maximum against Krysztof Buczkowski and former Robins skipper Hans Andersen in the next race.

Tungate racked up a heat victory with his first ride in race number four, with he and Nielsen beating Brady Kurtz and Newman 4-2, and in heat five, after Adam Ellis and veteran Pedersen gated quickest, Wright and Sedgmen both passed the latter to salvage a 3-3 draw from a losing position.

Tungate claimed his second win in as many heats with another fine triumph in the sixth as the two teams remained within touch distance at 19-17.

However, the nip and tuck theme of the meeting was blown away in heat seven as Doyle and Grajczonek left Buczkowski and Kurtz eating their dust as they flew to a maximum, handing the Robins some vital breathing space at the halfway point.

The in-form Tungate was at it again in heat eight as, despite Pedersen seemingly nailing the start, the Swindon man blazed to the head of the queue and romped to another victory, with a 3-3 draw maintaining the hosts’ six-point advantage.

Another stalemate followed in heat nine as Sedgmen and Wright went toe-to-toe with Kurtz and Newman and the following race was also closely-contested, but with a very different result.

Grajczonek and Morris brought home the bacon in style as they combined to stretch the home side’s lead to 10 points, with both riders stalked around the track by Pirates number one Holder but holding on to first and second-place to clinch another maximum.

Poole rolled the dice in heat 11 and handed a tactical ride to number five Andersen but Doyle served up a dominant race victory to limit the damage to a 5-3 loss, with the Pirates’ ex-Swindon captain allowed to cross the line second by team-mate Buczkowski.

But the visitors continued to chip away at Swindon’s lead in heat 12 – the second reserve battle of the meeting – as Pedersen and Newman claimed a 4-2 win over Wright and Nielsen, keeping Rossiter’s troops on their toes.

The onus fell on Doyle and Grajczonek, who had both enjoyed impressive evenings up until that point, to overcome Holder and Andersen in heat 13 but the Poole duo rose to the occasion to haul their side back within touching distance.

As Andersen held off Doyle, Holder blitzed into second place out of nowhere and all of a sudden, the hosts led by just two points with two heats to go, with the score standing at 41-39.

The tension had been ramped into overdrive and in the penultimate race of the night, Poole’s Buczkowski crashed out as he attempted to nip around the outside of Morris, with the Polish rider earning a disqualification for his troubles.

In the re-run, the imperious Tungate and Morris unnervingly saw off a solo Kurtz to seal an excellent home victory in style with the home side’s fourth maximum of the night.

The Pirates had the chance to clinch a consolation point in heat 15 but were sent home with nothing to show for their efforts as Doyle was awarded victory ahead of Aussie rival Holder after Andersen crashed out.