THE Bespoke Guardians Swindon Wildcats returned to winning ways with a 5-2 victory over Peterborough Phantoms at the Link Centre on Saturday.

Led by a man-of-the-match display from Tomasz Malasinski, the Wildcats shrugged off the sequence of previous defeats and dominated from the outset on home ice.

However, it was the Phantoms who ghosted in to score the first goal in the shape of a familiar face. Former Wildcat, Luc Johnson capitalised on the first powerplay of the night to open his new team’s account.

Aaron Nell’s side reacted quickly though and tied the game up in the 12th minute when Jack Goodchild linked up with his head coach. Nell fed Malasinski who powered home for his first goal of the season.

A tight first period made way for 20 minutes of home dominance as the Wildcats turned the screw when searching for that elusive home win.

At 32:28 the Wildcats scored their second goal of the evening. Nell caused a turnover and broke through on goal with Balint Pakozdi on his left wing.

The head coach slid the puck across to the young Brit who fired the puck past Jordan Marr for his first goal of the season.

The first-goal theme continued for the hosts when Eddie Bebris found room in the slot to rip a shot into the top corner two minutes later.

It was Nell who added a fourth fewer than 60 seconds after his team’s third, wiggling away from some Phantoms attention and slamming into the net - the assists going to Malasinski and Pakozdi.

With the home side cheered on by a boisterous crowd - delighted with what they were witnessing - Swindon went and scored a fifth in the 44th minute.

After quick passes from Nell and Pakozdi once again, Malasinski finished the move off in fine style.

The victory could have been even more emphatic for the Wildcats if Emil Svec had finished a good late chance, and Malasinki’s shot had found its way in and not onto the left-hand post.

Peterborough were able to score a late consolation goal when Tom Norton and Duncan Speirs linked up on the powerplay to find Ales Padelek with room for their second of the evening, but the final buzzer sounded and the Wildcats had put a big two points on the board.

Swindon will play MK Lightning on Thursday, Basingstoke Bison on Friday, and the Raiders on Saturday.