ALUN Rossiter has stoked the fires ahead of Pirates' mouthwatering play-off clash with Swindon by insisting: "I like to see Matt Ford in pain every now and again."

Having elected to face fierce rivals Poole in the semi-final, the Robins team boss set his sights on thwarting Wimborne Road chief Ford for the third time in eight seasons.

Rossiter piloted Coventry to play-off final success against Pirates seven years ago and did the same two seasons later with Swindon, triumphs which prevented the Dorset club earning six titles on the spin between 2010 and 2015.

And the 52-year-old, a legend at Poole having won three league crowns in the skull and crossbones during his racing career, is ready to pile more misery on Ford and opposite number Neil Middleditch.

Rossiter told the Daily Echo: "I see Matt has started playing the mind games by saying nobody will worry about Poole in the play-offs. Yeah, righto Matt, carry on Matt, all right Matt. He does this with me all the time.

"I know how much he hurts when he loses. And while it hurts him, I like to see him in pain every now and again.

"I do like him, I've got a lot of time for him and he's a good friend but every now and again I like to inflict a bit of pain on him. I'm hoping to inflict a little bit more in the semi-final.

"I was the one who stopped the Pirates from having a clean sweep for six years in a row. I did it in 2010 and 2012 and, hopefully, 2017.

"Poole is a club I like, there's no getting away from that. You get the Poole haters but I'm certainly not one of them.

"I've got family and friends down there and I'm friends with Matt and Middlo but once we get to 7.30pm, we are enemies.

"The trouble is that Poole have had so much success, everybody wants to beat them. You can't deny that. But I can live with being a pantomime villain, as long as we can all have a drink afterwards."

Having enjoyed a stunning 17-match winning run, injury-hit Swindon have lost their past two meetings, at Rye House and Wolverhampton.

Rossiter expects to have Bradley Wilson-Dean back for Monday's first leg at Wimborne Road (7.30pm) and says Edinburgh's Mitch Davey will continue to stand in for the sidelined Zach Wajtknecht.

The Blunsdon team boss added: "I know some people say the bubble has burst but you have to bear in mind we've been riding with five riders and no reserves.

"David Bellego's form has taken a bit of a hit but I'm confident he will be fine come the play-offs knowing the person he is and the fact he has sorted his engines out.

"A win at Poole would be nice. If we can win, anything else would be a bonus. If not, we would hope to keep it very close, it's as simple as that.

"We have got to target a win, otherwise there is no point being in it."