THERE was no doubt in Ryan Aldridge’s mind that his Swindon Wildcats side came up against the best side in the English Premier League tonight.

The Wildcats served up a major shock when they won 4-0 at the Telford Tigers at the beginning of the month but Aldridge’s side couldn’t repeat the trick as they were beaten 3-0 on their second visit of the season to the Telford Ice Rink.

It was all hands to the pump as Swindon defended for their lives throughout the first period but once their defence was finally penetrated late in the first period, the visitors were left with a mountain to climb.

With his side still suffering the effects of their dismal 7-2 home defeat at the hands of the Peterborough Phantoms on Saturday, coach Aldridge thought that his side were also on the receiving end of some good old-fashioned revenge.

“They owed us from the last game. They wanted to give us payback for beating them 4-0 in their own building,” said the Swindon chief.

“They’re obviously on a roll right now. I think we woke them up when we beat them and they’re definitely the strong team in the league right now, and with the line-up and the money they’ve got, they should be.

“It was tough to stay positive after (Saturday) night. We met in the morning and when we came out we were looking down a bit from the start.

“On the ice we showed character but individually, we were looking a bit down.

“The boys played hard in the first period and to concede that goal at the end of the period was a bit tough because of the way we’d played.

“It just happened to be that we played the best team in the league.

“The way the move, the line-up they’ve got, the way they can keep coming at you and coming at you – they can stay fresh because there’s so many of them.

“They probably spend double what we spend and they’re supposed to beat us. Not that we’re going to accept defeat but they’re supposed to.”

Aldridge added: “This weekend’s behind us now. If we played like we did (tonight) against any other team then we’ll be halfway successful, if not successful.

“We’ve got to play like that every night, simple as that.”

Maxim Birbraer finally broke through the Swindon barricades when he lashed home a scoring effort late in the first period before Joe Miller’s deflected effort made it 2-0 in the second.

The Tigers rounded off the scoring early in the third, with Scott McKenzie turning the puck home after his initial effort was saved by Wildcats' netminder Stevie Lyle.