NEW Swindon boss Jan Staechmann marked his opening night in charge by seeing his team race to a narrow 46-44 win against Eastbourne at the Abbey.

It was a keenly fought contest against the Elite League high-flyers and the hero of the night was Polish star Maciej ‘Magic’ Janowski.

Janowski top-scored for the Robins with 11+2 and he also got a vital second place in Heat 15 that secured the narrow victory against the Championship chasers.

And there were also valuable contributions from Cory Gathercole (9) and Nicolai Klindt 8+1, with the latter continuing his good t run of form since his signing earlier in the season.

Eastbourne were ahead early on with a 4-2 in the opening heat, but the Robins responded well and by the time five races had been completed they had build up a useful 18-12 lead.

But back came the Eagles to level things up after Heat 7, only for Gathercole to produce a good ride to beat Lukas Dryml in Heat 8 and Jesper B Monberg passed Cameron Woodward resulting in a 4-2.

The Robins held a slender two-point lead until an excellent piece of team-riding saw Gathercole and Janowski race to a maximum in Heat 12 over Swedish prospect Simon Gustafsson.

Joonas Kylmakorpi and Bjarne Pedersen responded with a 4-2 over Scott Nicholls in Heat 13 and with the penultimate race shared, the lead was down to four with one heat remaining.

In the decider Kymakorpi led all the way, but man-of-the-match Janowski beat Pedersen into second place to give Swindon the victory by the narrowest of margins.

SWINDON 46: Maciej Janowski 11+2, Cory Gathercole 9, Nikolai Klindt 8+1, Scott Nicholls 8, Simon Stead 7, Ricky Kling 2+2, Jesper B Monberg 1

EASTBOURNE 44: Jonas Kylmakorpi 13+1, Bjarne Pedersen 9, Simon Gustafsson 7+1, Cameron Woodward 7+1, Lewis Bridger 5, Lukas Dryml 3, Timo Lahti 0