IT WAS captain fantastic as Jan Kostal fired an over-time winner to end Swindon Wildcats five game run without a home league win.

A goal in the first minute of added time was enough to give the home side a 5-4 victory over Milton Keynes Lightning.

The face-off was delayed by 15 minutes, after it appeared a car carrying Cats players, including net minder Stevie Lyle, was delayed making its way from Cardiff.

It seemed like Swindon were still in the dressing room when Lightning struck after just two minutes through Michael Farn.

Swindon quickly pulled the score back level through Ollie Betteridge but two goals from Jordan Crownie and Ross Green gave the visitors a two goal lead after just ten minutes.

Swindon showed real strength of character as they came back again. With Tomasz Malasinski able to score before the first period break, then goals from Adam Harding and Kenton Smith turned the game on its head in the second period.

However Stanislav Lascek scored a power-play goal which was enough to take the game to over-time.

With Farn in the sin-bin it was the captain who stepped up and fired his side to a much needed victory and the relief amongst the players was clear to see as they all came together at the end of the game.

“I thought the first period we weren’t very good at all but a win is a win and it is a good character win,” said Aldridge.

“A couple of guys got stuck in traffic on the way from Cardiff which wasn’t a perfect start but we got through it.

“Stevie obviously hadn’t felt a puck until the first shot of the game and that open didn’t go so well.

“We’ve got two games at the weekend and then we get back to league games and we’ve got to start being better.”

After all the pre-match talk about getting a good start it was the complete opposite at the Link Centre as a poor clearance in the second minute fell to Farn who fired first time past Lyle.

Kostal led by example all night and hassled Lightning into a mistake behind the net for Betteridge to equalise.

The visitors restored their goal advantage in the sixth minute as Crownie got one-on-one with Lyle before the lead was extended three minutes later when Green picked up the puck and fired it through the legs of Lyle.

Malasinski was on hand to turn home a shot from Aaron Nell after 13 minutes before Adam Harding saw a great strike from the right nestle in the opposite corner of the net to restore parity.

Swindon then found themselves in front after 37 minutes when Nell was able to pick out Smith with an inch perfect pass for the D-man to finish.

The game was destined for over-time when, in the third period, Lascek made the most of Betteridge being in the sin-bin to score.

However, with Farn in the sin-bin, it was the skipper Kostal who clinched the much-needed win when he took aim a minute into over-time and fired hard past Hedley.