PERHAPS November 29 will be the day that Swindon Wildcats will always remember as the day that they almost won a breathless encounter against the Hull Pirates.

Despite having just three victories to their name all season coming in to Sunday evening’s clash, the home side belied their position at the bottom of the English Premier League as they provided a thrilling and unrelenting challenge for Aaron Nell’s Wildcats before snatching victory with a power play winner in overtime.

Nell drew an early stop from netminder Martin Raitums following Jonas Hoog’s cutback but the hosts struck first blood as Jordan Fisher reacted quickest to fire on the rebound after Jordan Hedley blocked Warren Tait’s initial shot.

The boon of an early goal blasted wind into the Pirates’ sails, marked by the fervent celebrations that followed Fisher’s opener, although they had to rely on a superb save from Raitums as he stuck out a glove to halt Malasinski’s fierce strike.

Hoog drew two further stops from the Hull goaltender as the visitors continued to find their efforts blunted, with the home side defending manfully and closing down the space in their defensive zone with aplomb.

As the period wore on, Josh Gent embarked on a jinking skate forward and fired into the body of Hedley whilst up the other end, Corey McEwen followed suit but couldn’t hit the target after slipping past four opponents.

Raitums came out on top once again in his personal battle with Wildcats man Hoog when he knocked away the Swede’s instinctive effort and with just over a minute-and-a-half of the first remaining, the Pirates doubled their haul.

After Neil Liddiard miscued his clearance, Hull broke and despite Fisher being charged down by four despairing Swindon players, Tait had time and space to fire in the hosts' second of the game to leave the visitors in choppy waters.

In a bid to steady the ship, Stevie Lyle was restored between the pipes at the beginning of the second period but it was his opposite number Raitums who was in the thick of the action early on, with the Pirates stopper standing up well to deny Sam Bullas in a one-on-one situation.

Raitums continued to frustrate Swindon as he kept out both Nell and Malasinski whilst the former unleashed another effort with considerable venom but was left dismayed as his shot pinged off the post.

It took a power play for the Wildcats to finally breach Hull’s defence.

The home side were penalised for having too many players on the ice and after the visitors patiently worked the puck around, captain Jan Kostal found a way past the impressive Raitums with a fizzing low effort.

In a flash, Swindon were then back on level terms as Hoog drifted out to the right flank and knocked the puck inside for player-coach Nell to bundle over the line amidst the attentions of a fleet of Pirates defenders.

But Hull were far from deflated and just minutes later, they were back in the lead as a sublime flowing move ended with Pasi Salonen teeing up Gent for a simple tap-in to make it 3-2.

Raitums came to the fore once again to ensure a lightning-quick counter ended with him keeping out Nell’s attempted finish whilst the Pirates goalie also made himself big to prevent Malasinski from finding the net as he continued to prove a thorn in the Wildcats’ side.

As Swindon toiled in the early stages of the final period, Bullas’ frustration got the better of him as he caught an opponent flush in the face and was ejected from the game for high sticks before Malasinski teed up Nell for a blast at goal but for the umpteenth time, Raitums casually plucked the puck from the air.

Hull seemingly struck a hammer blow when Tommi Laine fired the puck across the face of the Wildcats goal for Salonen to tuck home to make it 4-2 but the Wildcats responded almost instantly, Malasinski credited with the final touch as Matt Selby’s drive arrowed past an unsighted Raitums.

The drama continued unabated and with Swindon a man down, Hoog proved that if at first you don’t succeed, try and try again as he drew two quickfire saves from Raitums before finally beating the Pirates keeper to tie things up at 4-4.

In overtime, the Wildcats threw everything into surviving with a man disadvantage after Neil Liddiard was penalised for tripping but with just five seconds of the power play remaining, Laine broke Swindon hearts as he blasted home, sparking wild celebration from the entire Pirates squad whilst the booty of a four-point weekend eluded Nell's troops.