STEFAN Nielsen will continue to push through the pain barrier as he looks to make up for lost time with the Swindon Robins.

The 21-year-old reserve injured his thumbs when he crashed out whilst a leading a heat in the Robins’ victory over the Wolverhampton Wolves on July 7 and subsequently missed six Elite League engagements with Alun Rossiter’s side.

Nielsen returned to the fold with a seven-point haul in last Thursday’s vital win at the King’s Lynn Stars and was also fit to ride in Friday’s frustratingly postponed trip to the Belle Vue Aces.

The Robins reserve is relying heavily on medicine to aid his return but is keen to give everything that he has got as the 2016 season edges towards its final throes.

“I tore the ligaments in both my thumbs. I was out for five weeks and had my first meeting back (for the Plymouth Devils on August 12) but straight after the parade, I needed painkillers to ease off the pain,” said Nielsen.

“I had another six days off and rode against King’s Lynn, and it was the same again.

“One of them is fine but the other one – the one that I use on the clutch – is a little bit worse. Letting go of the clutch hurts. I spoke to the doctors about it and it’s just a slow process that I have to go through.

“I just want to race my bike. The season’s coming to a close very quickly.

“We’re battling for the play-offs and I know that Swindon had been missing me – Rosco had been ringing me up and it’s been tough to replace me.

“As soon as the adrenaline kicks in and I’m racing, I’m not sitting there on the bike thinking ‘oh, my thumb’s hurting’. It’s just the before and the after where it really hurts.

“I’ve been watching a lot of speedway in the time that I’ve been out, catching up on a lot of DVDs and watching the World Cup and a lot of Grands Prix, and I’m ready to get back on the bike and race.”

The Robins moved up to third in the Elite League table as a result of their 51-41 win at King’s Lynn and face a crucial clash with reigning champions Poole Pirates, who are second, at the Abbey Stadium tonight (7.30pm start).

Team boss Rossiter said: “We’ve put ourselves in a good position now and we can’t afford to take our finger off the button, so we’ve just got to make sure that we keep that same momentum and same attitude running into this meeting.

“We know it’s going to be tough but we are capable of winning.”