TEAM boss Neil Middleditch revealed how a collaborative approach had helped Poole Pirates through their mid-meeting wobble to secure a first away victory of 2016.

Middleditch’s men conceded three straight maximums to go from eight points in front to four behind after just seven heats at Blunsdon.

But Poole stayed in touch and steadily wiped out the Robins advantage, exorcising the ghost of letting leads slip through their grasp at Coventry and Lakeside earlier in the campaign.

Middleditch told the Daily Echo: “I told the boys on the track walk that we needed to start making inroads because the table did not make for great reading.

“We were really fired up to come away with something but when Swindon banged in three maximums, I did think to myself ‘here we go again’.

“The lads deserve a lot of credit for staying focused. It would have been easy to allow the meeting to run away from us but they all got together to discuss set ups and it worked out well.

“Swindon is one of those tracks where you can look like a world champion in one race and a novice in the next. It is so fast and you must have everything right because it sucks the life out of an engine.

“To get it right often enough to win there is not easy but have to keep going.

“Tomorrow will be tough. They will want to return the favour and we know they are quite capable of doing that if we are not at our best.

“There is still a lot of speedway to be raced and the aim, as always, is the play-offs.”

The one blot on the copybook was Adam Ellis’s broken collarbone, leaving promoter Matt Ford with another enforced absence to cover.

Middleditch added: “To turn up with my own seven riders was important but now, we could lose Adam for a while.

“It was an awkward fall and he has suffered shoulder problems in the past. Thankfully, it was not the same one he broke last time.

“We had hoped it was not too serious but we have to contend with it and just hope he can get back sooner rather than later.”