THE Swindon ENL Wildcats ended their season on a high, winning the English National League Southern Cup by beating rivals Bristol Pitbulls 8-4 on aggregate over two closely fought games.

Bristol started well in the first leg at the Link Centre, and took an early lead through Steven Osman as he shot low and hard to beat Swindon net minder Jamie Thompson.

The away side weren’t ahead for too long, as just 62 seconds later Josh Oliver’s shot through crowded players beat John Dibble.

With the game evenly balanced during the first period Swindon pressed hard in the second period, outshooting their opponents 14-6. And they were rewarded with two goals through Ryan Burgess at 20:59 and James Burnett at 36:40.

Bristol pulled a goal back with just over 10 minutes remaining in the final period, but neither team looked likely to trouble the netminders as the clock ticked down as Swindon edged the game 3-2 ahead of the second leg in Bristol.

The next day, the second leg at Bristol started how the first leg finished, with both teams playing physical ice hockey and looking for the win.

However, after 4:23 Bristol’s Steven Osman was ejected from the game after hitting Swindon’s Tom Asprey from behind as the defender went face first into the boards.

Osman received a five-plus match penalty as Asprey was wheeled off the ice in a stretcher, and it took Swindon five seconds to capitalise on the extra man.

Jamie Newton drew the puck back from an offensive face-off to Stephen Whitfield who passed to James Griffin who shot hard and low.

Dibble saved the initial shot but Ryan Burgess slotted away the rebound to give Swindon the lead on the night and a two-goal advantage on aggregate.

Swindon’s second of the night came at 22:58 through Joe Oliver, who had time and space just inside the blue line to expertly shoot hard into the top left corner.

Swindon furthered their lead at 29:50 as Griffin’s long cross-ice pass reached Burgess who did not hesitate in rounding the Pitbulls’ netminder on a breakaway.

Just 23 seconds later Bristol hit back through Matthew Phelon and at 36:06 Tom Evans added another after a string of defensive errors left three Bristol players unmarked in front of Jamie Thompson.

As the game entered the final third, Alasdair Barrow and Sam Feeney had chances to extend Swindon’s lead as a ragged Bristol defence had no answer to the youngsters pace. Barrow was eventually rewarded at 48:38 when he pounced on his own rebound from a shot to bury the puck into the back of the net.

Burgess completed his hat-trick at 53:51 to give Swindon a 5-2 lead on the night and the score remained that way with Swindon crowned as the champions.