SWINDON Wildcats coach Ryan Aldridge was in no doubt that his team’s hat-trick victory at Milton Keynes Lightning was ‘a big win’.

Aldridge’s men clinched a 100 per cent road record at the Thunderdome as they followed up a 3-2 overtime success and dominant 11-3 triumph with a third triumph of the season as the MK Lightning.

Swindon were forced to dig deep in the third and final period as they saw a two-goal lead clawed back by the hosts to make it 3-3 but in the end, the visitors bounced back from their 5-1 loss at the hands of the Peterborough Phantoms on Saturday as they ran out comfortable 6-3 winners.

And Aldridge pointed to the thunderous Jonas Hoog strike that made it 4-3 as the crucial turning point.

“It was a big win for us – there’s no doubt about it,” said the Wildcats chief.

“But to come back in at 3-3, especially in this building, we normally would have packed our tents.

“The boys stuck with it and Jonas scored a huge goal to make it 4-3. A lot of the boys played well tonight.

“The first three goals for us were pretty good but for them to get back in the way they did; I thought the second goal was probably a penalty – interference on Jani (Kostal) – and I’d question the third goal as well if I’m honest.

“But we asked for 60 minutes and we got that, for the most part.”

Victory on Sunday evening was the perfect tonic for Swindon as they head into Wednesday’s crunch Challenge Cup semi-final first leg showdown with the Manchester Phoenix with a spring in their step.

Asked if going in to next week’s cup clash off the back of a victory was key, Aldridge said: “Absolutely. It would have been pretty upsetting to go into Wednesday night if we’d just played (on Saturday night) and had tonight off.

“Spirits were down but tonight, the boys’ spirits were high again and hopefully we can take that into Wednesday night.”