WILDCATS' march up the English Premier League table came to an abrupt halt in Romford last night.

Hopes of the Swindon npower Wildcats recording only their third weekend of back-to-back victories this season came crashing off the rails in the last period.

Wildcats, who had taken the honours 6-1 away in Telford on Saturday night were holding a comfortable 4-1 lead against Romford Raiders going into the final 20 minute session. But from going 5-2 up they collapsed in the last 12 minutes and found themselves 6-5 down.

They levelled at 6-6 in the final minute but were denied a share of the spoils as the Romford crowd went beserk as Lee Cowmeadow netted the game winning goal with only 27 seconds remaining.

It was a disappointing finale and brought a shock end to Swindon's brilliant unbeaten run of nine games and threw open again the battle for a top eight play-off spot.

The first period was a tight affair with Swindon just about on top with their Slovak Juraj Rusic scoring the only goal at 8.59 from Mikael Juhlin's pass.

But Cats came strong in the second netting three times and laying what should have been the foundation for another victory.

Richie Hargreaves, the villian the previous night in Telford, struck an unassisted second at 21.59.

Dan Mackriel pulled a shorthanded goal back at 27.37 before a powerplay effort from Marek Hornak at 28.39 and a strike from Gareth Endicott, on a delayed penalty 68 seconds later gave Swindon what seemed like a commanding 4-1 lead at the second break. However, the last period proved to be an absolute nightmare for Swindon and left their play-off hopes severly dented.

Lee Brathwaite (46.12) countered a strike from Kyle Amyotte at 43.50PP for a 5-2 scoreline.

But then the home side came roaring back to turn the match on its head with four unanswered goals from Andrius Kaminskas (47.51), Mike Marostega (53.09PP), Lee Cowmeadow (54.24) and Amyotte (56.29).

In the final minute Justyn Schollar brought Cats level at 59.03 only for Cowmeadow to hit Romford's last gasp winner at 59.33.

Cats scorers: R Hargreaves and Rusic 1+2; Brathwaite and Endicott 1+1; Hornak and Schollar 1+0; Juhlin 0+1.

Period scores: 0-1; 1-3; 6-2.

Shots on goal: Romford 36; Cats 27.

Penalty mins: Romford 18; Cats 20.

  • TWENTY-FOUR hours earlier on Saturday night Wildcats enhanced their play-off hopes as they recorded their first win of the season over Telford Tigers.

Their recent upsurge in form saw them produce a fine performance and cruise to a 6-1 away win in the Shropshire rink with Canadian import Justyn Schollar leading the way with a hat-trick.

Cats took the honours 2-0 in the first period, drew the second 1-1, and stormed way to victory with three unanswered goals in the final 20 minute session.

The only blemish was the loss of Richie Hargreaves in the second. He was ejected from the game at 24.05 for roughing by referee Kim Lawley.

Swindon were well on top in the first period easily outshooting the hosts with netminder Barry Hollyhead a busy man.

The combination of Schollar, Slovak Marek Hornak and Scotsman Adam Walker wreaked havoc all night.

They combined on the powerplay for Hornak to score at 6.38 and added a second at 10.31 as Schollar netted his first goal of the game.

The trio made their mark again within 28 seconds of the re-start of the second period as Hornak scored Swindon's third goal.

But in this period Swindon were shorthanded for sometime and were pegged back as Tigers' Joe Miller struck with 45 seconds of the period left to cut the gap to 3-1.

The final period saw Cats well on top again and double their score to an impressive six goals.

Slovak Juraj Rusic bagged an individual effort at 43.00 before Schollar struck twice in the final three and a half minutes to complete his hat-trick.

He netted goal five at 56.30 with Adam Brittle, on his return to Telford assisting, while Walker, with his fourth assist of the night, produced the pass for Schollar's third goal of the night at 59.19.

Cats scorers: Schollar 3+2; Hornak 2+2; Rusic 1+0; Walker 0+4; Adam Brittle 0+1.

Period scores: 0-2; 1-1; 0-3.

Shots on goal: Tigers (on Douglas) 28; Cats 42.

Penalty mins: Tigers 20; Cats 28.

Cats Man of Match: Justyn Schollar.