SWINDON Wildcats rose from the ashes as they recovered from their midweek cup disaster against the Manchester Phoenix with victory against the same opponents tonight.

Face-off at the Link Centre was delayed by over an hour-and-a-half after the visiting Phoenix were hamstrung by traffic problems but Ryan Aldridge’s side eventually got their better of their travel-sick opposite numbers to add another two points to their tally in the English Premier League.

Manchester threatened first and should have taken the lead when Robin Kovar slipped his way around the back of the Swindon goal but, with Stevie Lyle seemingly beaten, the Phoenix man could only hit the base of the post.

And the visitors were instantly punished as the Wildcats raced up the other end and opened their account as Aaron Nell fired home past goalie Declan Ryan.

The hosts’ bright start continued as Tomasz Malasinski doubled their lead but the period soon became a war of attrition, with Lyle forced to save Frantisek Bakrlik’s ferocious drive after the visitors got a rare sight of goal.

Early in the second period, Wildcats goaltender Lyle made a huge save to keep out Manchester’s Jason Carson-Heron after he raced clear whilst up the other end, Aaron Nell was twice denied by Ryan before Lee Richardson drew a fine save from the Phoenix goalie.

As if proceedings hadn’t been delayed enough, there was another short break with just under 14 minutes on the clock after Floyd Taylor left Corson-Heren with blood streaming from a cut above his right eye following a crunching hit against the boards.

When the game got back underway, the Phoenix quickly hit back to halve the deficit as Stuart Thompson knocked the puck into an unguarded net from Bakrlik’s pass.

Seconds after returning to the ice from a power play, Nell found himself one-on-one but the Swindon man was kept out by Ryan and the Phoenix netminder swiftly made another superb save to deny Tomas Kana.

The noise levels were finally raised with just under two minutes of the second to go as Lyle’s smart save from a Bakrlik effort started a move that saw Kana race away before blasting into the top corner of the net to make it 3-2.

But the Phoenix hit back in the blink of an eye as Walker skated into space in a two-on-one situation before teeing up James Archer, who slotted home his team’s second of the evening.

Lyle made a fine save from Joe Graham as the visitors looked to get back on level terms whilst at the other end, Bakrlik effectively denied the hosts a breakaway goal as he launched himself at the goal to shift it from its position and bring the play to a halt.

The remainder of the third period passed without any major incident as Swindon dug in and defended their lead stoutly to get the job done.

And with seconds to go, the visitors pulled their netminder in a last-ditch bid to nick an equaliser but were caught short at the back, Nell blasting into the empty net to rubber-stamp the result in a late night Valentine's Day special.