SWINDON Wildcats survived a Hallowe’en scare as they held on to strike down Milton Keynes Lightning and secure just a third away win of the English Premier League season this evening.

Things had looked so easy for the Cats early on as player/coach Aaron Nell struck twice, with Carlo Finucci and Tomasz Malasinksi also on target as they raced into a 4-0 lead at Planet Ice.

However, from there Lightning mounted a brave fightback and the visitors were just about able to hang on until the final buzzer and claim a first win on the road in four weeks.

Stevie Lyle was back between the pipes for the visitors, with the Welshman having only just returned to the club after leaving his position as player/coach the previous week.

The Great Britain international netminder was in outstanding form, pulling off a string of fine saves in the opening two periods which went a long way in setting up his side’s victory.

The Cats looked in decent form from the off and captain Jan Kostal brought the first save of the night out of home stopper Dean Skinns.

Swindon player/coach Nell then cracked a shot just past the post, while Lyle denied Leigh Jamieson at the other end.

Another big save from Lyle kept out Bobby Chamberlain before Kostal was again thwarted by Skinns twice in quick succession.

The action continued at a furious pace, with Lyle at his best to keep Adam Carr and Marko Luomala at bay, while Finucci was the next man to be frustrated by Skinns.

The visitors had just about been on top and managed to make it tell on the scoreboard with a quickfire double in the final three minutes of the first period.

First, Finucci broke the deadlock after finishing off a rapid Cats attack before he then turned provided as Nell doubled the lead little more than 30 seconds before the buzzer.

The intensity did not drop after the turnaround as Cats’ Matt Selby and Grant McPherson, of MK, were involved in a huge brawl within 60 seconds of the restart, earning both men four minutes in the bin for both.

The home side then began to up the tempo in front of their own fans and looked certain to reduce the arrears when Chamberlain and Luomala raced in two-on-one but somehow Lyle made the save.

Swindon stopper was then called into action to deny both Jamieson and former Wildcat Glenn Billing.

However, the Cats soon found their rhythm again and Finucci flashed a strike just wide, while Skinns flicked out a glove to keep out Adam Harding’s effort.

With a goalless period seemingly in the offing the Cats struck late on again as Malasinski let fly from distance to make it 3-0 in the final minute of the second period.

Nell pushed his side four goals to the good early in the final period, squeezing the puck over the line at the second attempt after initially being denied by Skinns.

From there, though, the visitors were in danger of falling apart as the home side were able to get on the scoreboard when Billings, who left the Link Centre over the summer, found the net to deny Lyle a shut-out.

Swindon’s comfortable lead was suddenly halved shortly afterwards when Jordan Cownie got his side’s second after weaving his way forward before lashing past Lyle.

When MK’s James Griffin was sent to the sin-bin with six minutes left on the clock it seemed that the Cats would see out the remaining time but the hosts refused to roll over and cut the gap to one despite being short-handed as Lewis Hook raced forward before crashing a shot past Lyle.

That set up a pulsating finale but the Cats just about clung on for the victory and into tomorrow’s home game with Basingstoke Bison in prime position to claim a first four-point weekend of the season.