King's Lynn boss Dale Allitt believes his team's Knockout Cup semi-final tie with Swindon is 'nicely poised'.

King's Lynn boss Dale Allitt believes his team's Knockout Cup semi-final tie with Swindon is 'nicely poised'.

The Tru Plant Stars will need to make up six-points at the Adrian Flux Arena next Monday (7.30pm) following their 48-42 first leg defeat in Wiltshire.

Three race wins in succession, two from in-form reserve Michael Palm Toft, between heats two and four saw the Stars edge in front for the first time at The Abbey Stadium.

The hosts responded though with two 5-1s on the spin as they regained the lead.

But the Stars dug deep and demonstrated their battling qualities once again mid-meeting with three straight heat advantages in their favour, with Niels-Kristian Iversen and Palm Toft again starring as Erik Riss found his gating gloves to contribute also.

However, a very rare off night for skipper Robert Lambert - who contributed only five points, proved costly in the end as Swindon rounded things off with three race advantages of their own as the Stars let a four-point lead slip.

Said Allitt: 'We had an aim of what we wanted to come to Swindon and do and in the worst case scenario we didn't want to lose by more than 10 points.

'So while we're a little bit disappointed not to hang on, six points keeps us well within this tie, it sets the second leg up nicely and it's still all to play for.

'Robert had a lot of things going on with problems with frames and things like that but he's been absolutely fantastic for us all season long so there's certainly going to be no backlash aimed at him from anybody connected with King's Lynn.

'I'm sure that will fire him up even more for next Monday though and he'll be determined to put it right in that second leg.

'We're in this competition to win it and every single meeting is important to us.

'We've still got that second leg before the play-offs start and we know based on recent performances at home that we're more than capable of turning this cup tie in our favour and progressing through to the final.'

Swindon 48: Tobiasz Musielak 12, Troy Batchelor 10+2, Nick Morris 8, Adam Ellis 7, David Bellego 6+2, Zach Wajtknecht 5+1, Jack Smith 0.

King's Lynn 42: Niels-Kristian Iversen 14, Michael Palm Toft 12+2, Erik Riss 5+1, Robert Lambert 5, Thomas Jorgensen 4, Simon Lambert 2, Ty Proctor R/R.