Rossiter rues referee's decision

Alun Rossiter was chasing Swindon's first championship win since 1967

Swindon manager Alun Rossiter was left fuming after a key refereeing decision cost his side in Monday's Elite League play-off final defeat by Wolverhampton.

Despite a 52-41 second leg win, the Robins went down 95-90 on aggregate.

And Rossiter raged at the decision to allow Wolves rider Freddie Lindgren to remount in a re-run of heat 13 having fallen at the first bend.

"I don't mind being beaten fair and square but heat 13 was a total embarrassment," he told BBC Wiltshire.

"We were in with a fighting chance and that would have set up heat 14 lovely."

Swindon rider Simon Stead summed up the feelings of his fellow team-mates.

"I'm gutted," he said. "I feel sick.

"Did they deserve to win it over the course of the season? Probably not.

"I think a lot can be said for our team. We came out fighting tonight. We were riding it until a dodgy referee's decision."

Despite being angry at that decision, Swindon knew that they faced an uphill struggle, having lost the first leg at Monmore Green by 16 points.

"I don't think we lost it tonight," said late summer signing Morten Risager. "We lost it last week.

"Right now is really depressing. But we've got to come back even stronger next season. We didn't peak at the right time and we need to look at ourselves."

Rossiter agreed, adding: "The biggest point was that we lost so big at Wolverhampton. If we hadn't done that it would have made life easier.

"But we've still come a long, long way in a relatively short space of time.

"We were a very small club for many years and we're now one of the top clubs in the league."

Swindon had finished the regular season on top of the Elite League table before beating Coventry in the play-off semis.

And, despite going into the second leg trailing so heavily, they still attracted a good crowd to the Abbey Stadium.

"I'd like to thank each and every one of them for coming down in their numbers and giving us their support," said Stead. "We gave good effort and I just hope the fans can see that we all gave it 100%"

"They still believed in us until the very last heat. They really were our eighth man throughout the season."