ICE HOCKEY LIVE: Guildford Flames v Swindon Wildcats (From Swindon Advertiser)

6:12pm

The final buzzer goes. Hard luck on Swindon, who gave it a great crack. Next stop Basingstoke at home tomorrow night.

6:08pm

Goalie pulled.

6:08pm

Nell fires well over.

6:07pm

90 seconds left.

6:05pm

Massive Cats pressure.

6:05pm

Penalty killed. Three minutes left.

6:04pm

Watt has just been nailed and been on the end of another nibble. Looks quite up for a fight at this point.

6:02pm

Scuffle in front of goal and Fojtik can't find a way through.

6:01pm

Rick Plant gets two minutes for holding.

6:00pm

Just under six minutes left.

5:56pm

Too save Skinns from Rempel. And again from Kohut.

5:54pm

Bullas shoots against Lee's head!

5:52pm

Floyd Taylor pokes over on the follow-up from Paul Swindlehurst.

5:51pm

Decent save by Skinns with the pad a couple of moments ago. Still all to play for.

5:47pm

Perkkio has the puck in the net, unfortunately the wrong side.

5:46pm

Nell scoots round the back of the net and by nearly tees up Hoog. Bullas smashes goalwards twice,

5:45pm

There are 16 minutes for Swindon to find an equaliser.

5:39pm

Couple of efforts for Swindon and Perkkio sees his rebound saved. It was an awkward chance.

5:37pm

Here we go.

5:36pm

Phew. Teams back out for period three.

5:20pm

Penalty on Fojtik for hooking.

5:09pm

Kohut and Aaron Nell both off for tripping. This should open things up.

5:02pm

The longer this goes on, the more the visitors will fancy their chances. A 0-0 scoreline at this stage would have sounded very unlikely before face-off.

4:58pm

Dare I say it, this game has gone a bit flat. Stand by for nine goals. Cats look to be pushing on a bit, though, which is positive.

4:54pm

Penalty killed.

4:54pm

Perkkio's shot from wide saved by Lee.

4:52pm

Kohut off for hooking.

4:52pm

David Savage with a low drive - denied!

4:50pm

Skinns bats away an effort from former Wildcat Jozef Kohut.

4:47pm

Here we go again.

4:46pm

4:46pm

Teams out.

4:45pm

The second period will start in around a minute.

4:44pm

Apologies for the delay in the last update. We can loosely call it 'technical issues'.

4:44pm

First period over. Cats have got to be pleased with 0-0 as they absorbed an awful lot of pressure. Must find a way of getting their attacking game going, though, otherwise it's probably just a matter of time.

4:31pm

First period over. Cats have got to be pleased with 0-0 as they absorbed an awful lot of pressure. Must find a way of getting their attacking game going, though, otherwise it's probably just a matter of time.

4:28pm

Lee just beats Hoog to the puck in a flat out foot race.

4:27pm

Penalty killed by the hosts.

4:27pm

Jan Melichar tries a speculative drive. No luck.

4:26pm

Lundin gets two minutes for hooking. Cats powerplay!

4:24pm

The Flames keep banging on the door. It's relentless at the moment.

4:20pm

You can't help but feel the first goal will have a huge bearing on the entire game, more so than usual.

4:19pm

Penalty killed. Rempel had the best chance but sent his slapshot wide of the left upright.

4:18pm

Nicky Watt not too far away from netting on the counter. He nearly jumped into the bar!

4:17pm

Stevie Whitfield gets two minutes for hooking.

4:15pm

Mark Lee in goal for the Flames, by the way.

4:13pm

Dean Holland skips away from several challenges but just doesn't have the power to poke a wristshot past Skinns. Guildford look ready to score some goals today.

4:11pm

Swindon are set up to defend and counter, I think it's fair to say.

4:09pm

Dean Skinns saves low from Nathan Rempel.

4:07pm

Early slapshots from Jonas Hoog and Jez Lundin.

4:03pm

And 2013 ice hockey is underway for Swindon.

4:02pm

We've had the anthem.

3:56pm

Five minutes to go...

3:53pm

3:49pm

WILDCATS FORWARD SAM BULLAS ON GUILDFORD

They’re a fantastic team. They’ve got some really big names over there but, when we work as a unit and we play as we have been for the last few weeks and did for most of the game last time, I think we’ve got a really good chance of beating them up at their place.

(The Spectrum) is a fantastic rink. They’ve always got a good crowd and they’ve got a lot of support over there.

They’ve got a point to prove because the last time we were over there we beat them, so they’ll come out hard but we’ve got to come out harder or match them early on and take it to them.

3:44pm

3:43pm

Players off the ice now and warm-ups are completed.

3:35pm

Sitting in the stand is bringing back memories of Swindon's cracking 5-4 win here back in October. That night Dean Skinns made the most unbelievable save I've ever seen in my life, clawing the puck away from behind him when it looked a certain goal. Still don't entirely believe that stop actually happened.

3:31pm

Swindon will continue without injured duo Lee Richardson and Jamie Hayes this evening. Guildford have no new injury worries.

3:29pm

The Spectrum clash is the only match in the EPL today, if you were wondering

3:26pm

3:23pm

GET INVOLVED

Right, let's get down to business. You can follow all the action as it unfolds via this live feed, and also get involved by leaving your opinions in the comments section below, and also on Twitter using #swindonwildcats. Also feel free to follow/badger me on @nedpayne1.

3:21pm

And the teams are out on the ice for their warm-ups...

3:17pm

Face-off today is at 4pm.

3:16pm

Welcome to the Spectrum where Swindon take on Guildford in their first game of 2013. The EPL play-off push starts here for Ryan Aldridge's men, who can draw level on points with sixth-placed Bracknell if they win