SWINDON Wildcats lost their first game of the season on the road as they succumb to a 3-1 defeat to Sheffield Steeldogs.

The hosts had a steely defence to thank as they claimed their two points in tonight’s English Premier League clash.

Tom Squires, Craig Elliott and Andrew Hirst all got on the score-sheet for Sheffield as they secured their second win of the weekend.

Tomasz Malsinski halved the defecit in the first period but despite dominating possession in the final two periods Wildacts could not find a way past the games man of the match Dalibor Sedlar.

The Wildcats went into the match unbeaten on the road having already seen off last season’s champions Manchester Phoenix and Guildford Flames last Sunday.

However it was the hosts who took the lead after eight minutes in confusing circumstances.

It looked like play had been stopped but Squires played to the whistle and squeezed the puck past Stevie Lyle and after some debate the goal was given.

Elliott quickly doubled the lead for the home side less than a minute later, after poking home from a bit of a goal mouth scramble.

Wildcats got themselves back into the match after 14 minutes through Malasinski.

It all looked very simple as Aaron Nell picked up the loose puck behind the Steeldogs’ net and pulled it back to Malasinski for a fine finish.

Wildcats came out in the second period and looked the better of the two sides, dominating the puck but failed to create any clear cut chances.

They were soon punished for that when in the 29th minute, against the run of play, Steeldogs caught Swindon on the counter-attack with Lubomir Korhorn charging down the left side before picking out Hirst who fired past Lyle.

The game started to become disjointed towards the end of the second period and the Wildcats, pushing for a way back into the contest, began to look vulnerable on the counter attack and were restricted to long range efforts.

Wildcats continued to dominate in the third period but even when they had a two man advantage on the ice they could not get the puck past Sedlar.