SWINDON suffered a 50-36 defeat in their Elite League play-off semi-final first leg against Belle Vue at Kirkmanshulme Lane.

The M&S Van Rental Robins suffered a nightmare start against the Aces, and although they recovered to a degree it was nonetheless a frustrating night.

They will now have to overhaul a 14 point deficit as they host the second leg at the Abbey next Monday (7.30) in order to keep their title dreams alive.

Team boss Alun Rossiter acknowledges they face an uphill task as they look to earn a Grand Final place - but he insists the tie is far from over.

"It's a big gap for us to overcome going into the second leg, but you can never say never," Rossiter said.

"The reserves did a good job really, they battled hard and scored pretty well but it was our heat-leaders that let us down a bit.

"We had some crashes that were costly as well, and in a play-off semi-final you can't afford to give your opposition any advantage at all.

"We are going to need a big wake-up call for the second leg next week, but I'm sure we can do it. We won't give up, we'll pick ourselves up and keep believing we can overcome the deficit."

Skipper Troy Batchelor top scored for the Robins with eight points, although he suffered a fall in the opening race of the night which set the tone for the early stages as Nick Morris and Peter Kildemand both made costly errors in heats three and four respectively.

Batchelor was unable to take victory as he took the Robins' tactical ride in heat 10, being forced to settle for second place behind Josh Grajczonek, whilst Kildemand struggled early on before ending on a high with two race wins.

Morris and Aaron Summers both added a win apiece but otherwise endured nights to forget, but reserve duo Charles Wright and Lewis Rose battled hard for useful contributions with Wright in particular in impressive form.

BELLE VUE 50: Andreas Jonsson 11, Josh Grajczonek 9+1, Scott Nicholls 8, Steve Worrall 7+2, Craig Cook 6+2, Stefan Nielsen 5+1, Max Fricke 4+1.

SWINDON 36: Troy Batchelor 8, Charles Wright 7+1, Peter Kildemand 6, Nick Morris 5, Aaron Summers 4, Lewis Rose 3+2, Grzegorz Zengota 3.

Abandoned after 14 heats - Rain - RESULT WILL STAND