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Swindon Wildcats 3 - Manchester Phoenix 4 (after penalty shots)

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Phoenix scorers: Psurny and Flaten(2) and penalty shots scored by Psurny and Long.

Swindon with Skinns in goal for the still injured Murdy. Phoenix without Chong and El-Hage.

Stephen Fone had to be sharp after only 28 seconds to save from Hoog. Wildcats took the lead on 2.04 with a power play goal by Aaron Nell assisted by Perkkio and Hoog.

James Archer almost picked off a pass from Tony Hand but Swindon broke out quickly and Jonas Hoog shot high over Fone for 2-0. Schnabel sat out a strange roughing call on 12.07 then Phoenix scored. Good work from Flaten found Psurny on the left circle and his one timer beat Skinns for 2-1.

End of the first period 2-1 to the home side.

Jan Melichar went to the box early in the second period on a holding call but good work from Phoenix brought no reward. On 27.17 McKinney collided with Skinns and Nicky Watt was not best pleased. A hugfest followed and Watt received 2+2 and McKinney 2 minutes. Phoenix took advantage of the powerplay with a classic. Hand found Psurny who passed to Flaten to score. 2-2 on 28.18.

Fone kept the scores level with a brilliant one on one save and despite looking the better team, Phoenix had to settle for a 2-2 scoreline after 40 minutes.

Into the third period and end to end play saw both netminders keep the puck out. Swindon hit the pipes on 46.20 but it was Phoenix who took the lead after 51.52. Phoenix won a face off in the attacking zone and the puck bounced hard off the back boards. Flaten was first to react and he prodded the puck into the corner of the net.

Swindon equalised with a lovely goal from Jonas Hoog who took a pass from Shane Moore to hammer it past Fone. That was it for the scoring, 3-3 and into overtime.

No goals in the extra period although Swindon came closest, hitting the pipes.

Penalty shots with Aaron Nell missing. New addition Michal Psurny took Phoenix's first goal and deked Skinns out of his shorts to score. Mathias Perkkio equalised for Swindon with their second penalty. Phoenix went back in the lead when Ciaran Long scored after putting Skinns on his rear end and tapped the puck into the empty net. Swindon man of the match Jonas Hoog took the Wildcats' third penalty but never troubled Fone.

Final score 3-2 to Phoenix and a well deserved two points on the road. Phoenix man of the match went to James Neil.

Forward Joachim Flaten said after the game: "It was great to get the first League game under our belts and take the points. We are still making little mistakes but we will sort that out. It was great to get a couple of goals and I'm very happy."

Coach Hand commented: "Swindon took the game to us in the first period, but then I thought that we had the better of the game. We are still finding our feet and to get two points here was a great result. Swindon are a good team and they will have a good year."