SWINDON Wildcats were unable to claim another two points this evening as they came unstuck late on at Hull Pirates.

The visitors, who were left with no option in the third period other than to pull their netminder, paid the price at the Hull Arena as they went down 7-4.

Aaron Nell’s side got off to the perfect start in this English Premier League contest following a frantic opening couple of minutes where both sides were trying to assert their dominance.

But it was the Cats player-coach himself who got the visitors ahead in the third minute. First the puck fell to Jonas Hoog in the middle of the rink and after his shot was saved by the Hull netminder, possession fell to Nell, who was able poke his effort into the net.

From there, it looked as if Swindon were the more likely to get the next goal but they were unable to do so as the lead was not extended before the period ended.

The second period was action packed and Tomasz Malasinski thought he had put the Wildcats 2-0 up but his goal was ruled out by the referee.

However, the Cats finally got justice soon afterwards when Adam Finlinson made it 2-0.

Hull then hit back with their first goal of the game when Jonathan Kirk found a way past Stevie Lyle.

The hosts had the bit between their teeth and they drew level through Jason Hewitt less than a minute after their first to level things up.

The Wildcats regained the lead through Jan Kostal as he shot through traffic but they surrendered that just before the end of the second period.

With Neil Liddiard serving a two-minute penalty for roughing, the hosts were able to get their third goal through Andrej Themar with just over 30 seconds to go.

After a cagey opening to the final period, Hull were able to take the lead for the first time in the 49th minute as they made the most of Liddiard’s third penalty by scoring a powerplay goal.

Swindon were then left concerned for the welfare of Callum Buglass, who had collided with the barrier and after some treatment, he made his way to the locker room holding his right arm.

But they dug deep and found an equaliser through Hoog after he drove to the net and snuck his shot past the home stopper.

Sadly for the Wildcats, a flurry of late strikes from the hosts meant they rushed into a three-goal lead. Hewitt had made it 5-4, before Themar added the sixth after Lyle had been pulled from the net and Stanislav Lascek rounded off the scoring with less than a minute to play.