SWINDON Robins boss Alun Rossiter hailed the guts of his riders in defeat as they saw their 100 per cent home record in 2018 ended by SGB Premiership leaders Somerset Rebels tonight.

A six-man Swindon side suffered a 49-41 defeat at the Abbey Stadium as Somerset saw a one-point lead at the head of the standings increased to five.

The Robins were on the back foot before the meeting even began, with David Bellego and Zach Wajtknecht ruled out through injury and Swindon forced to operate rider replacement to cover the former.

Ellis Perks was booked as a guest in place of Wajtknecht but he and fellow reserve Jack Smith scored just two points between them from 10 rides – including five non-finishes.

Rossiter felt the remaining four riders in the main body of his team, led by Tobiasz Musielak’s 13+1 points, could not have given any more in a losing cause against the Rebels.

“Every defeat is tough to take,” said Rossiter.

“It frustrates me when people keep telling me what to do and when you listen and look at what they say, some people don’t have a clue. I don’t mean that disrespectfully, it just gets on your nerves.

“I am honest as they come, and we had a four-man team and we nearly pulled off beating top of the league.

“No disrespect to our reserves, but those four rode their hearts out.

“I told them to go for it and the four guys have it 110 per cent and I can’t fault their efforts.”

Rossiter felt a pivotal moment in the meeting was the fall suffered by skipper Nick Morris when leading heat 10.

Swindon had recovered from a slow start to the fixture to bring themselves back level after nine races, but when Morris went down and was excluded for the re-run, it turned a likely 3-3 draw into a 5-1 Somerset win.

Troy Batchelor also went down three races leader as a result of a hard pursuit of the Rebels’ reigning world champion Jason Doyle, making it seven Swindon non-finishes in total on the night.

Rossiter added: “Unfortunately, the track was a bit tricky and it caught a lot of people out.

“Nick was leading heat 10 and it caught him out, and I think that was the turning point in the meeting.

“I certainly don’t blame Nick. He knows he hasn’t performed away from home, but he has been pretty good at home.

“He is just as disappointed as me and I think it’s the same as Troy in heat 13.

“If the score had still been level then, maybe he might not have gone for it so hard.”