DARCY Ward will make his Swindon debut in Saturday's crucial Elite League clash at Leicester on Saturday.

The Australian ace got some laps under his belt at The Abbey on Thursday and is now ready to make his return to the sport in Robins colours.

Swindon will be hoping to add some more points to their Elite League tally and close the gap on fourth placed Belle Vue, as the battle for an end-of-season play-off place continues.

The Blunsdon outfit will be looking to carry on where they left off after securing their biggest win of the season over Wolverhampton last week and will be looking for revenge against Leicester, after a fourteen-point defeat at Beaumont Park almost a fortnight ago.

As well as tracking Ward for the first time, the Robins will also hand a debut to current Czech Republic U21 Champion Eduard Krcmar.

Elsewhere, Troy Batchelor looks set to miss Saturday's meeting after he sustained injuries during last weekend's British Grand Prix at Cardiff, so wild-card Craig Cook has been booked as a guest.

Charles Wright is on Premier League duty with Somerset, so Adam Roynon takes his place at reserve.

Robins boss Alun Rossiter is hoping the club's recent signings will help inspire the rest of the team but also admits there is still plenty of work to be done.

"We haven't really had an out-and-out No.1 all season and hopefully bringing Darcy in will change that because everybody knows what he can do on a bike,” said Rossiter.

"I'm sure he'll do well and he'll be an important rider for us over the next few months but don't expect him to go out and bang in fifteen points on Saturday.

"People have got to be realistic; he's done laps and he looks very quick but he's been out for a long time and it will take him a few meetings to get back up to speed.

"We've done our bit by improving the squad on paper but now we want all of our riders to go out there and show everybody their worth on track.

"To be fair, most of them have been going well for large parts of the season, but what they can't do is think 'we've got Darcy Ward in our team now - we'll be alright.'

"One rider doesn't make a team and we've got other riders who need to make sure they keep stepping up to the mark on a regular basis.

"Our performance the other week at Leicester was poor and we want to go there on Saturday and put the record straight by picking up some more league points.

"I believe we can go there and get a positive result to give us some confidence to take into the big meeting against Poole on Monday."