SWINDON Wildcats claimed a narrow win at the Hull Arena as they needed overtime to see off Hull Pirates 6-5.

Stevie Whitfield, Thomasz Malasinski, Jonas Hoog, Sam Bullas and Max Birbraer were all on target for the victory, with the latter snatching the overtime goal.

It was a frantic first period for the Wildcats who took the lead early as Whitfield grabbed his second goal in as many games.

The D-man emerged with the puck from his own ice before surging up the ice towards the home goal.

Once he was within range the 28-year-old let rip before latching onto his own rebound to hand the visitors a 1-0 lead in the sixth minute.

One became two shortly afterwards when Malasinski doubled the advantage a minute later with a smart finish from close range.

The Cats then had the chance to assert their position in the game with a powerplay, but instead the Pirates were able to hit back with a shorthanded goal.

With the deficit halved, due to Ugnius Cizas, the Pirates found their way back into the game at the half-way stage of the period. Before long they were back level when Andrej Themár powered home in the 10th minute to restore parity between the two teams.

The second period was a fast-paced as the first as Hoog got the visitors back in front three minutes after the re-start.

But again the Cats were pegged back when Themar grabbed his second of the game when he slotted the puck firmly past Stevie Lyle.

However the Wildcats were able to get themselves back into the driving seat once again as Bullas swept the puck into the net. 3-4 Malasinski's initial effort was knocked into the path of Bullas, who made no mistake from close-range.

Late on Birbraer continued his recent good spell of form by making the most of a flowing move to put the Wildcats two goals ahead, for the second time.

Whitfield then went close to doubling his personal tally when he hit the post with 33 seconds of the second period to go, as it finished 5-3 to the Cats.

While the final instalment lacked the pace of the earlier two, it still made entertaining viewing.

Nell’s troops were again left frustrated as they saw their two goal lead slashed in half as Lee Bonner scored Hull’s fourth in the 45th minute.

The game then came to a shuddering halt with 10 minutes left when Kyle Smith went head first into the boards after losing his balance.

The teenager was then taken away from the ice on a stretcher and was in clear discomfort.

With five minutes left it went from bad to worse for the visitors, who conceded for the fifth time when D-man Lee Haywood dragged his side level.

As the game went into overtime Birbraer stepped up to seal the win with 60:44 on the clock.