SWINDON Wildcats got back to winning ways tonight with a comfortable 5-1 triumph at the Sheffield Steeldogs.

Ryan Aldridge’s men set to work on making up for their two English Premier League home defeats at the hands of Sheffield earlier this season by taking maximum points at the iceSheffield arena as they fired home four goals in the final period.

Swindon played the majority of the game in their opponents’ third early on as they began the clash on the front foot, with Jonas Hoog and Ollie Betteridge both testing netminder Dalibor Sedlar.

The Steeldogs eventually grew into the game though and during a four-on-four powerplay, a great piece of defensive improvisation from Hoog prevented Lewis Bell from tapping home as he arrived unmarked at the far post.

Sedlar saved well with his body to beat away Floyd Taylor's arcing shot whilst Lee Haywood's drive caused a scramble in front of the Wildcats goal, with the visitors eventually dealing with the danger.

As the first period wore on, the encounter opened up and Aldridge’s men were forced into some last-ditch defending on more than one occasion but the visitors continued to look dangerous every time they forayed forward.

The Wildcats’ offensive work deserved a goal and the breakthrough came in fortuitous circumstances with less than a minute of the period remaining, with Aaron Nell’s drive into the danger zone taking a wicked deflection off Lewis Bell, sending the puck crashing past Sedlar and into the net.

Sheffield exerted some early pressure following the first break and Lloyd Gibson almost tied things up when he shot narrowly wide of the mark, with the visitors then surviving a five-on-four powerplay before Gibson fired one down the throat of Lyle.

The pressure eventually told and the Steeldogs restored parity midway through the second period as Ashley Calvert smacked across the face of goal, allowing Cameron Brownley to slam home the equaliser.

As the match became stretched following Sheffield’s goal, the home side almost netted a second as Lubomir Kohron almost turned the puck home as he fell off-balance but a cluster of Wildcats bodies somehow did enough to block the despairing effort.

Just a matter of minutes into the third and final period, it was advantage Wildcats as after Betteridge's shot was saved by Sedlar, Sam Bullas knocked the puck back from behind the goal to allow the arriving Adam Harding to smash home an unstoppable second.

Things got even better for Aldridge’s side as they followed up their early goal with a quick-fire second to make it 3-1.

Nell reacted quickest after Jan Kostal’s strike was parried away, with the Swindon forward blasting into the roof of the net with aplomb.

Despite the Wildcats taking charge of the scoreline, the clash became frenetic once again as the Steeldogs attempted to bite back, although the best chance fell to Taylor, who drew a smart save from Sedlar after Hoog stole possession in the home third.

The visitors managed the remainder of the final period well and put the cherry on the cake with a two late goals from Tomasz Malasinski, with the Polish forward blasting home during a Wildcats powerplay before finding the net again following good work from Kostal and Henri Sandvik.