THE Bespoke Guardians Swindon Wildcats responded to a 6-3 defeat away at Basingstoke Bison on Boxing Day with an emphatic 10-2 victory just 24 hours later.

Swindon relied on seven different scorers across the pair of games, with Balint Pakozdi netting four of the Cats’ 13 goals.

It was Pakozdi who kicked off the action a little over three minutes into the opening game at Planet Ice Basingstoke, feeding off passes from Tomasz Malasinski and Eddie Bebris.

The Bison equalised through Zack Milton exactly 90 seconds later, and the first period ended 1-1.

Pakozdi grabbed his second midway through the middle section, only for Gael Lubwele to haul the hosts back level once again with five minutes to play.

Edgars Landsbergs nudged Basingstoke in front shortly after, and third-period goals from Oliver Hemmings-Maher and Hallam Wilson put the Bison in control.

Russ Cowley netted a consolation goal near the end for Swindon, but Aaron Nell’s men conceded once more with 17 seconds remaining as Lubwele slotted into an empty net.

The story of the game could not have been more different on Tuesday night, though, as Swindon set about hammering the Bison net.

Chris Jones scored the only goal in a first period filled with penalties for either side. In the second, Jones added to his tally along with strikes from Nell, Pakozdi and Malasinski.

Alex Sampford pulled one back for Basingstoke at 44:24, but Reed Sayers replied 15 seconds later to re-establish the Wildcats’ five-goal advantage.

Malasinski put a penalty shot away in the 46th minute prior to a barrage of penalties for both teams as the temperature was turned up inside the Link Centre.

Colby Tower struck twice in the final few minutes, either side of another Pakozdi effort and a second Bison goal as the scoring was completed.

Speaking to the Wildcats’ media team post-match, Nell was delighted to see his team respond after the Boxing-Day defeat.

He said: “We weren’t happy with (Boxing Day). We had lost three in a row against Basingstoke, and they’ve embarrassed us three times. We needed a big performance for our fans, for us.

“We knew we needed to win, and the boys played really well. I’m very happy with the team because we knew there was, not pressure, but after losing on Boxing Day we couldn’t lose (on Tuesday). The players did all I asked of them.”