SWINDON Wildcats suffered a bout of travel sickness as they were slipped to a disappointing road defeat at Bracknell Bees this evening.

Making the short trip to Berkshire to take on the English Premier League’s bottom side for the second time in the space of seven days, Aaron Nell’s team found themselves on the back foot time and again, and despite hitting back from a number of losing positions, they were unable to salvage anything against a resurgent Bracknell.

Swindon started slowly and the Bees took full advantage by capitalising on the first power play of the night, Alex Barker firing home from close range after a period of sustained pressure.

Despite his team being short-handed when the visitors earned their first power play of the game shortly afterwards, former Wildcat Harvey Stead almost notched against his old club on the breakaway but was denied by netminder Stevie Lyle.

From there on, the home side continued to make things difficult for a stuttering Cats, with Nell’s troops struggling to create clear-cut opportunities to hit back.

In fact, it took until the final four minutes of the period for Swindon to create a moment of meaningful quality, Phil Hill cutting the puck back for Robin Kovar but he saw his shot comfortably saved by 17-year-old Bracknell netminder Matthew Smital.

Swindon trailed 1-0 heading in to the first period break of the night and early in the second, Bees youngster Rio Grinell-Parke just failed to apply the finishing tough to an agonising pass across the face of the Cats goal.

It wasn’t long before the hosts did double their lead, however, with home head coach Lukas Smital forcing home his team’s second power play goal of the night shortly after Stevie Whitfield ended up in the sin bin.

Trailing 2-0, Swindon needed to wake from their slumber and captain Jan Kostal helped provide some inspiration as he jinked his way towards the Bees goal before cutting the puck back for Jonas Hoog to crack a well-struck shot past Matthew Smital.

However, Cats’ joy was short-lived as penalties cost them dear once again, Bracknell capitalising on a five-on-three situation and popping the puck around to allow Shaun Thompson to restore their two-goal advantage.

The Bees goalie pulled off an excellent diving save to deny Hoog on the power play late in the period but another Bracknell penalty did allow Swindon to hit back once again, Tomasz Malasinski converting.

However, just like after Hoog’s earlier goal, Cats conceded quickly once again as Barker found space down the right flank and, after being picked out by Luka Basic, he slotted away to make it 4-2.

Nell’s men looked to up the intensity in the third and final period but they got little change out of a resilient Bracknell early on but when they did earn a power play, an almighty scramble in front of the Bees net saw the puck end slide over the line to chop the score back to 4-3, Phil Hill being credited with an unassisted goal.

This time, Swindon did manage to keep the pressure on for a few minutes but it wasn’t long before Barker burst into life to the right of the Cats goal and thumped home his third of the night to stop the visitors’ momentum dead in its tracks.

After rising back up from that body blow, Swindon manage to hit back and ensure a nervy finish as Lee Richardson diverted into the net from a Malasinski pass.

With 35 seconds to go, hat-trick man Barker was slapped with a tripping penalty to hand Cats – who had pulled goalie Lyle – a last-gasp power play but there was to be no last hurrah as Bracknell claimed a rare four-point weekend.