HEAD coach Ryan Aldridge hopes that his Swindon Wildcats side have dealt a significant psychological blow to play-off opponents Peterborough Phantoms after thrashing the Cambridgeshire side 6-2 at the Link Centre this evening.

The Wildcats are due to take on the Phantoms in next weekend’s opening play-off round and a stirring performance in their final home match of the regular season saw Swindon lay down an early marker, with Jonas Hoog and Aaron Nell scoring braces whilst a dynamic Tomasz Malasinski and Jan Kostal were also on target.

Aldridge also made note of the effect Saturday evening’s goal glut could have on Peterborough’s Latvian import netminder Janis Auzins as his side look in rude health heading into the post-season.

“I think it’s a psychological blow for them. I think they looked frustrated tonight and their goalie looked frustrated,” said Aldridge.

“He’s obviously a bit different in the way he plays and I think we had the edge on him tonight and I think that will affect him in the play-offs.

“I think it’s his temper, you know? I think his temper was pretty close to boiling point tonight but I’m sure he’ll be ready for the play-offs.

“We talked a lot tonight about the way we played in their building and how we were successful and how we’ve got to play in our building. I thought we did that for the first 20 minutes and a big part of the third period.

“I thought the boys did great tonight. All four of the D were great but I thought the team defence was also good tonight.

“A lot of guys played unreal tonight and that reflects on a scoreline. Being that short-benched against a team like that, we could have lost heavily.

“I’ve been pretty hard on them for the last month and I think the first period proves why I’m hard on them because I know how good they can be when they want to play.”

The Wildcats chief added: “We want to have the home advantage so we always knew it was a must-win game, both for that and psychologically for the play-offs.

“The way we wanted to play tonight probably takes the intensity out of the game but I thought, in the right areas, guys did play intense and it reflects in the scoreline.

“So I’m looking forward to the play-offs and I think we’ve got as good a chance as anybody.

“But sometimes we have to play a certain way and against a team like that, we certainly have to play that way but if we can stick to that for 120 minutes, I’m sure we’ll be successful.”

Shane Moore returns for tomorrow’s trip to the Manchester Phoenix but Alex Symonds and Tomas Kana are ruled out and are doubts for the play-off weekend.

Youngster Ollie Betteridge, who had been ruled out for the remainder of the season, goes in for a knee operation on Monday.