7:00pm Sunday 16th December 2007
DEPLETED Swindon Wildcats slipped to a 3-1 defeat at Guildford in the Knockout Cup.
Despite missing leading Great Britain players Michael Farn, Matty Davies and Joe White plus suspended star forward Joel Petkoff, Cats dominated proceedings.
Cats went a goal up when John Wheaton beat Joe Watkins in the Guildford net, assisted by Wayne Fiddes.
And despite having to withstand much pressure from the home side, Cats held on to their lead at the break.
Oliver Bronnimann brought Guildford level shortly after John Wheaton missed a great chance to extend Cats lead on 25 minutes.
Milos Melicherik combined with Taris Foremski to set up young Bronnimann to equalise for the home side.
Adam Brittle then beat Joe Watkins in the Guildford net but failed to beat the pipes and, after soaking up a tremendous amount of pressure, Cats went behind for the first time in the game.
Despite being on a powerplay, Cats had a pass intercepted behind their net and Lukas Smittal capitalised to score the go-ahead goal at 30.50.
Swindon dominated the third period without finding the crucial goal, Wheaton hitting the pipe for a third time in the match
Stand-in coach Steve Nell tried to force overtime by pulling netminder Nathan Craze with two minutes remaining but the crucial goal eluded them
Guildford clinched victory in the dying seconds when Terry Miles scored into the open net
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