SWINDON Wildcats solidified their position at the top of the NIHL South One table with a come-from-behind 3-1 win at home to struggling Milton Keynes Thunder on Saturday night.

MK started brightly at the Link Centre and took a shock first-period lead through Tomas Rubes, as his strike squeezed past Wildcats netminder Renny Marr, but the home side came out firing in the second period to take the lead.

Jan Kostal started the comeback before Adam Harding saw his deflected strike loop over the visiting netminder and into the goal. Sam Jones netted Swindon’s third from the blue line to make sure the Cats stayed top of the tree.

Player-coach Aaron Nell admitted his side did not execute their usual levels of performance, but was relieved they showed enough character to take the points at the Link Centre.

“We didn’t have our best game. MK were excellent, they worked very hard and in the end, you’re just happy to get the two points," said Nell.

“There’s a lot of things we could have done better. Chris Jones’ line was excellent, but the other two defensive lines weren’t great.

“MK were quite passive and that worked for them. We were disappointed to go 1-0 down in the first period, but we ended up winning the game, so we forget about it and move on to the next one.

“We’ve played really well in the last couple of weeks and quite often when you have two big wins, the following Saturday night, you can fall of a cliff a little bit.

“We were getting chances, but we weren’t quite playing fast enough, but the three goals came from people being aggressive on the forecheck and winning second pucks.

“Could we have played better? Of course. But it’s done now. It’s another two points and we look forward to the next stretch of games which will be really tough."

Last weekend, import Max Birbraer played his 1000th career league game and Nell promised there was even more to come from the Wildcats’ second highest points scorer this term.

“Max has had a great career. He’s been great for the three years he’s been with us," said Nell.

“To play that many games and to play that long is a credit to him and we’re very happy he’s here in Swindon.

“He’s had a good start to the season, but there’s a lot more to come from Max."

The Cats travel to Bracknell Bees this evening.