SWINDON Wildcats returned to winning ways with a 7-3 win over Sheffield Steeldogs at the Link Centre.

Goals from Sam Bullas, Jordan Kellsall, Kyle Smith plus doubles from Tomasz Malasinski and Max Birbraer meant Swindon came out as victors in the first of their two cup games this weekend.

Swindon took the lead in the opening ten minutes when Jonas Hoog broke down the left hand side, before driving to the net, his shot was saved into the path of Malasinski who applied the finish.

Despite that they were soon pegged back by Pavel Mrna levelled proceedings at 10:10, with a shorthanded goal.

Birbraer regained the lead for the Wildcats with the clock reading 12:52, but a disastrous end to the end of the period meant Swindon would go into the first interval 2-3 down.

Liam Charmock brought it back to 2-2 in the 17th minute, before Tomas Brcko got a lucky deflection to bag the third for the visitors.

Former coach Ryan Aldridge was then involved in a tussle with Sheffield’s Callum Pattison which resulted in them both receiving two plus two for cross checking and roughing.

The home side then came flying out of the blocks in the second period when Sam Bullas grabbed a goal after 18 seconds to make it level once again.

After an uneventful period it was the Cats who would pounce late on after some patient build up freed up Malasinski to notch for the second time, handing Aaron Nell’s side a slender 4-3 lead going into the final period.

The Wildcats started the third period as they started the second, with a goal early on, this time from Kellsall which gave the hosts a two goal cushion for the first time.

Birbraer then made it even more comfortable for the hosts when he added his second of the night to make the score 6-3 in the 44th minute.

Youngster Smith then joined in on the action by adding his name to the score sheet with just over five minutes to play.

Despite late pressure from the visitors, after Birbraer was sent to the locker room, they were unable to mount a comeback of any significance as the Wildcats held on for a 7-3 win.

Then with 29 seconds left to play Smith was the latest to drop gloves, which saw him given a two plus two for fighting.