SWINDON Wildcats’ opening fixture of the English Premier League season ended in disappointment as they were swept aside by Peterborough Phantoms at home.

Much is expected of the Cats in 2015-16, with new head coach Stevie Lyle having built one of the strongest rosters in recent memory.

However, they failed to live up to that billing on their grand unveiling as the Phantoms simply had them spooked at the Link Centre.

Swindon recovered from a nightmare start as they fell behind with just 17 seconds on the clock to go 2-1 in front but five unanswered Peterborough goals turned a tide that could not be reversed before the final buzzer.

The Cats could not have asked for a worse start to the campaign as they found themselves in arrears almost immediately from the face-off. Phantoms attacked from the go and slack home defending allowed Milan Baranyk a simple tap-in against netminder Lyle.

That kicked off an end-to-end first period, with the lead changing hands several times.

The Cats swiftly grew into the contest and a belting effort from distance from Aaron Nell drew them level after Mirosalv Zalesak had been denied in the build-up.

Home skipper Jan Kostal then carved through the Phantoms defence before lashing past netminder Janis Auzins to put his side in front.

The Cats' lead did not last long, though, as James Ferrara hit straight back, finding the net after a quick Peterborough attack.

And the hosts were then made to pay when Tomasz Malasinksi was sent to the penalty box as an absolute thunderbolt of an effort from Tom Norton from distance beat Lyle all ends up to put the visitors ahead at the end of the first period.

The second period was always going to struggle to live up to the action-packed first and a slow start inevitably ensued, with sin-binnings for Peterborough’s Darius Pliskauskas and Neil Liddard, of the Cats, the highlights of the opening exchanges.

However, the visitors then began to turn the screw with two unanswered goals to build up a hefty advantage going into the final 20 minutes.

First, a prolonged Phantoms attack ended with Marc Levers lashing through a crowd of bodies and into the net, before Ales Padelek then beat Lyle from a narrow angle at his near post, with the Cats stopper swiftly withdrawing himself to be replaced by Jordan Hedley.

The Cats needed a fast start to the final period and were given some hope when Phantoms' Tom Norton and then Padelek were sent to the penalty box but they could not make their numerical advantage count.

And there was more misery for the Cats before the night was done as Lloyd Gibson beat Hedley to push the visitors’ lead up to four.

Malasinski then gave the Cats brief hope when he converted a cracking Corey McEwen delivery with five minutes to go but it was no more than a consolation.