Spirited Cats held off by MK (From Swindon Advertiser)

Spirited Cats held off by MK

9:38pm Sunday 14th February 2010 in

• Skip social links
• Print
• Email
• Comments(0)

WILDCATS player-coach Ryan Aldridge had nothing but praise for his side after they pushed English Premier League leaders Milton Keynes Lightning all the way at the Link Centre tonight.

Swindon were eventually defeated 5-3 but showed guts and spirit to make a game of it having been 4-0 down 25 minutes in.

Aldridge said afterwards: “It was a great achievement to come back into it from four goals down.

“The players showed their character and that they have got fire in their bellies.”

MK were 2-0 up at the end of the first period courtesy of Andre Smulter and Nick Poole, and Monir Kalgoum and Lukas Zatopek made matters worse for Swindon in the second.

Aaron Nell pulled one back at 27:56 with a penalty stroke after Gareth Endicott had been bundled over, before Sam Bullas finished off a fabulous flowing move at 33:06. Jozef Kohut then smashed in an unstoppable drive from range and the hosts were just 4-3 down.

But Nick Poole bundled in following a scramble at the start of the final period, and despite having powerplay opportunities, Swindon could not find another goal, and Jason Cassells was thrown from the game late on to compound their disappointment.

On Saturday, Swindon secured a point from their visit to Sheffield Scimitars after taking the tie to a penalty shootout.

The visitors took the lead when Aaron Nell converted a Jason Cassells pass with less than 30 seconds played.

Loris Taylor doubled the advantage before Tom Squires hit past Swindon netminder Chris Douglas at 7:36.

Stuart Brittle levelled matters just over a minute later, but Nell got his second of the game at 17:56 to make it 3-2. The 20-year-old then profited from Cassells’ clean face-off win to smash in his hat-trick and finish the first period in fine style.

Both defences tightened in the second and only one goal was scored, as Scimitars got one back on the powerplay.

In the final period, Simon Butterworth squared the game at 46:53 when he fired in from the hash marks.

After no goals were scored in the remainder of regulation time or overtime, Sheffield triumphed in the shootout.