SWINDON Wildcats secured their second win of the season against last year’s champions Manchester Phoenix with a 4-2 home victory.

A late Adam Harding goal secured the win for the home side who had twice come back from behind during a game they dominated for large periods.

With the visitors pushing for an equaliser Tomasz Malasinski was on hand to add a gloss to the score-line.

Wildcats fell behind within the first two minutes of the match when the visitors made the most of Henrik Sandvik being in the sin-bin for boarding.

Robin Kovar saw a shot from the left come back off the post with Stevie Lyle beaten.

The puck struck the back of the Cats goalie and player-coach Hand was on hand to tap home the loose puck.

It did not take long for the home side to restore parity however when Shane Moore found Nell free on the right two minutes later.

The experienced Nell made no mistake as he bore down on goal and fired home past Declan Ryan.

Lyle did well to keep the scores level as he first prevented Hand who was found one-on-one on the break, before pulling off a fantastic save to deflect the puck onto the bar from a James Archer shot from point-blank range.

The veteran was eventually beaten before the first period was out as Manchester made the most of another power-play.

Adam Finlinson, who was in the side with the absence of Ollie Betteridge, Callum Buglass and Floyd Taylor, who were all on international duty, was in the bin along with Sandvik and Bakrlik was able to take aim and fire home from the blue-line.

The Czech player was later ejected from the game for an over-the-top hit on Cats captain Jan Kostal in what was a fairly uneventful second period.

Despite the player advantage for five minutes of the period the home side struggled to create any clear cut chances as they remained a goal down going into the final period.

Swindon found themselves back on level terms for a second time in the match after Adam Harding and Jonas Hoog caught the visitors on the counter-attack after 42 minutes.

Harding did well to hold the puck for as long as possible to commit Ryan before squaring to Hoog who had a simple tap in.

Cats looked to have stepped it up a gear in the final period and Nell thought he had put the hosts in front but he saw his fierce shot cannon off the up-right.

The pressure took its toll on the visitors with just three minutes left on the clock.

Sandvik was able to find Harding in acres of space on the left and he fired home hard past Ryan to give the Cats the lead for the first time in the tie.

Malasinski was on hand at the end of the game to add a final goal with Ryan being pulled from goal to try and grab a last gasp equaliser.