SWINDON Wildcats had Chris Jones to thank on Sunday night as Leeds Chiefs almost completed a remarkable turnaround in Solihull – one of Chiefs’ temporary homes.

Wildcats led 5-1 with 34 minutes on the clock at Planet Ice Solihull as goals for Tomasz Malsinski, Aaron Nell, Tyler VanKleef, Floyd Taylor and Chris Jones helped the visitors establish a comfortable middle period lead.

Chiefs were boosted when they clawed a goal back at 36.17, but no one could’ve predicted the fightback Leeds staged in the final period.

Cats’ three-goal lead vanished in 14 frantic minutes of National League hockey, and Nell’s troops were forced into overtime for the second time in the space of a week.

Wildcats repeated their overtime heroics from just a week ago in Milton Keynes as Jones bagged the all-important winning goal to keep the Link Centre outfit’s title hopes firmly on track.

Meanwhile on Saturday evening two more goals from Chris Jones inspired the Wildcats to a massive 7-1 victory against the Sheffield Steeldogs. Despite going a goal down inside the first minute and going into the break a goal down, the Cats rallied and goals in the second and third period sealed the points.

In the Second period on Saturday; goals from Toms Rutkis, Luc Johnson & Chris Jones got the Cats back to a 3-1 lead. Then in the third period further goals from Chris Jones, Aaron Nell, Sam Bullas and Tyler Vankleef ensured a big win in front of a bumper home crowd.

Speaking after the win on Sunday Aaron Nell said: “Leeds are doing well at the moment, so we’re very happy to pick up another four-point weekend.

“The rink at Solihull was a lot better than what I remembered, to be honest. We were in a comfortable position and threw it away in the third, but picked up a big goal in overtime.

“It’s tough to stay calm in overtime situation, we just knew we had to score.”

Focus now switches to a massive National Cup semi-final second leg tie against Telford Tigers on Wednesday, where Swindon hold a three-goal lead from the first leg.

Nell added: “Wednesday is a big game, and we’re all looking forward to it.

“A three goal lead doesn’t get you anywhere, we’ve got to go there and try and win the game. We’ll be confident because Telford is the best team in the league, so we have to be.

“They will play a smart game, and we’ll be going all out to win.”