A REFRESHED Stefan Nielsen is raring to get back into action with the Swindon Robins this week, but knows they face a tough test to secure their place in the play-offs.

Swindon welcome league leaders Lakeside Hammers to the Abbey this Thursday having not been in action since Saturday, June 4, after last week’s two meetings with the Essex-based club were called off due to poor weather forecasts.

That has given the riders a chance to recuperate, but Nielsen says he is ready to get back on the shale with the Robins, having scored 11+2 for Premier League outfit Plymouth Devils in their win over Edinburgh Monarchs on Saturday evening.

“The break wasn’t ideal,” said Nielsen.

“I rode on Saturday night for Plymouth after having a 13-day break so in my first race I felt a little bit rusty, but I soon settled into it and it was nice to be back on the bike.

“It can be very nice to have a little bit of an extended break to get everything sorted again because we can be extremely busy.

“It was nice for the first week to recover and feel good and it makes you want it that little bit more when you come back, but 13 days was probably a little bit too much.

“It wasn’t supposed to be like that.

“Obviously the two meetings last week got rained off and it is England and the weather does play its part.”

At the halfway stage in the season for the Robins, Alun Rossiter’s side sit just inside the play-off positions, four points ahead of Poole Pirates but having had three more meetings.

Nielsen knows the side are up against it to secure a play-off berth but thinks that they have already shown this season that they have what it takes in the remaining 14 meetings.

“I had last night and I have got Tuesday at Peterborough, so I have had a nice time off but I have four meetings this week and I will soon be back into the swing of things,” he added.

“We had a little bit of a slow start as a team and then we picked up and got a fair few league points away from home that really put us in a good position.

“The last couple of weeks we had we lost three meetings in a row which really cost us cementing our place in the play-offs.

“We have still got a fair bit of work to do to secure one of those places and we have really got something to work on now.

“It is difficult but we can’t expect any of the meetings to be easy and we can’t be over-confident.

“We have to go out there and do our best every time and get as many points as we can.

“If we can qualify for the play-offs before the last couple of meetings then that is even better for us.”