SWINDON Wildcats’ opening weekend of the 2016-17 season ended in disappointment as they suffered a heavy defeat on the road at the Peterborough Phantoms this evening.

Having been beaten 4-3 at the Link Centre by the Guildford Flames a day previous, the Wildcats were left licking their wounds and contemplating a difficult start to their latest English Premier League campaign after a heavy defeat in Cambridgeshire.

Aaron Nell’s side found themselves under the cosh right from the off as the Phantoms took the lead with just 53 seconds gone, Petr Stepanek stroking home to open the scoring.

However, the visitors soon steadied the ship and when Ben Davies hauled Swindon from one end of the rink to the other, the puck eventually fell to Toms Rutkis, who lashed an unstoppable snapshot past home netminder Janis Auzins to level up the scores.

From there on, the two teams traded blows, with Stevie Lyle having to stay sharp to beat away an effort from the hosts’ Martins Susters while at the other end, Auzins pulled off a superb reaction stop to keep Swindon at bay.

But moments after returning to full strength, the Phantoms went 2-1 up as James Archer slid around the back of the Wildcats goal and teed up Daris Pliskauskas to slam a low shot home.

Peterborough’s Marc Levers soon had the puck in the net once again and Swindon were saved as the officials spotted an infringement in the build-up but that denial didn’t halt Peterborough for long.

First, during a four-on-four situation, captain James Ferrara fired home following some patient build-up and the Cats were soon found themselves on the sharp end of a 4-1 scoreline as Tom Norton’s pot-shot found a way past Lyle.

To add insult to injury, Davies thought he had reduced the deficit, only for the officials to chalk off his goal for a foul while Jan Kostal was smartly denied by Auzins as the visitors endured a first period to forget.

When the action got back under way, the Phantoms wasted no time in pressing the issue home, with a clutch of bodies hammering away in the direction of the Swindon net, archer the man to eventually force the puck home and make it 5-1.

That early body blow did the Cats no favours as they attempted to launch an unlikely comeback, with the visitors struggling to fashion goalscoring opportunities as Peterborough swarmed all over the ice.

Jonas Hoog did manage to draw a save from Auzins on the power play, Stevie Whitfield arrived late and cracked an effort against the frame of the Phantoms goal and Max Birbraer was also denied by the Phantoms goalie but there was to be no further score in the second period.

In the third, Swindon defended manfully but so did their opponents as they two sides largely cancelled each other out.

That was until Peterborough managed to fashion an opening to make it 6-1, Stepanek squaring the puck for Susters to tuck away and leave Cats with that sinking feeling.