Swindon Wildcats kicked off their second weekend of competitive action in style with an impressive 4-3 victory on the road against the Sheffield Steeldogs. Goals from Max Birbraer, Eddie Bebris, Floyd Taylor and Loris Taylor were enough to ensure the points came back down the M1 to Swindon.

With Renny Marr suspended, the starting net minder job fell to Tyler Perre who had already impressed on the road in Streatham during pre-season, with Michael Crisp taking his spot on the bench as back up.

The game didn’t start too well for Swindon, Ben Morgan found room in front of the net to fire past Perre at just 0:50. The Cats battled back and shortly after Max Birbraer was able to tie the game up. His shot from a tight angle found a gap and bounced over the line passed Dmitri Zimozdra in the Dogs goal. Later in the first period, Eddie Bebris was able to make it 1-2 to the visitors when his low effort made its way into the net past Zimozdra.

The middle period the hosts fought back, at 24:31 they’d tied the game up once more. Milan Kolena, one of the stars of the Dogs, was able to find room at the back door and slam home the puck after a goal-mouth scramble. With the Wildcats finding themselves in a bit of penalty trouble, Jan Kostal and Sam Godfrey were in the box, Milan Kolena was able to convert the 5 on 3 power play with his second goal of the evening. The second period came to a close and the Wildcats now found themselves a goal down with a period to play.

The Wildcats came out for the third period and looked fired up, times of pressure in the offensive zone were finally converted at 46:35. A really nice move down low saw Jan Kostal feed a no look pass to Floyd Taylor and the British forward was able to roof the puck into net and tie the game at 3.

Around a minute later the Wildcats were back in front. A moment of fortune saw the puck turned over to Jan Kostal who drove down the right wing and fired the puck on goal. Loris Taylor was able to give it the faintest tip to deflect the puck into the net, for what would turn out to be the game winning goal.

The period came to a close and some great defending at the death ensured the 2 Autumn Cup points would be going back to Wiltshire with the Cats.

MOM: #23 Max Birbraer