ADAM Ellis is in positive spirits ahead of Swindon Robins’ Knockout Cup quarter final first leg clash against Rye House Rockets at the Abbey Stadium tonight (7.30pm).

The Robins face Peter Schroeck’s men at home this evening before travelling east to complete the second leg on Wednesday night in Hoddesdon.

Despite scoring paid four in Swindon’s 51-39 win over Wolverhampton on Thursday, the French-born racer said Robins’ win against Wolves – who prior to Thursday’s meeting occupied the top spot in the SGB Premiership – provided Alun Rossiter’s men with a timely confidence boost.

But at the same time Ellis expects the Rockets to be no pushovers, with the Hertfordshire outfit boasting three former Grand Prix riders in their team, including Chris Harris, Scott Nicholls and Krzysztof Kasprzak.

Ellis said: “Rye House have some good riders in their team, and they seem to be finding form at the moment.

“Bomber (Chris Harris) and Scott (Nicholls) seemed to struggle early on in the season but they raced well at Leicester on Tuesday in the British semi-final.

“It’s going to be a hard meeting. They’ll be some good racing though, and we need to make sure we’re on the ball for both legs.

“Tonight’s won’t be the deciding result though.

“The second leg on Wednesday will not be easy. But we’re feeling confident and it was nice to get a win on Thursday against Wolves.”

Robins experienced mixed fortunes during last week’s bumper schedule, which saw Rossiter’s side travel to Belle Vue and Somerset before hosting Wolverhampton.

A pair of 50-40 defeats against the Aces and Rebels left some fans questioning the team’s ability to sustain their unquestionable form from the start of the season, but such queries were quashed when Swindon coasted to a 12-point win over Pete Adams’ Wolves side at home on Thursday.

“It was good to get a big win, especially against Wolves,” said Ellis.

“We’re back at the top of the table now which is where we want to be.

“It will be another hard meeting against Rye House, but we’re confident.

“We could have earned points at Belle Vue and Somerset last week.

“If things went to plan we could’ve won both meetings. At the moment there are a couple of small things that have let us down like mechanical issues.

“I blew an engine on Monday and Tobiasz (Musielak) did the same on Wednesday. It’s not ideal.

“Things like that can alter the result of a meeting.

“But so far we’ve won at Poole and Leicester so we’re in good form and have points in the bag.

“As long as we keep winning at home and continue to pick up the odd point on the road we’ll be okay.”

SWINDON: Nick Morris, Adam Ellis, Troy Batchelor, David Bellego, Tobiasz Musielak, Zach Wajtknecht, Jack Smith.

RYE HOUSE: Chris Harris, Aaron Summers, Krzysztof Kasprzak, Edward Kennett, Scott Nicholls, Stefan Nielsen, Max Clegg.

JOIN MATTHEW DAVIES FOR ALL THE ACTION WITH SPEEDWAY LIVE FROM TONIGHT'S MEETING AT SWINDONADVERTISER.CO.UK/SPORT