BIG NEWS came out of the Swindon Wildcats camp last Friday when it was announced that Tomas Fojtik had been signed from the Telford Tigers, writes George Royle.

The 6ft 5in Czech is a great addition to the squad and he will certainly improve the defensive unit as well as adding some offence.

The addition of Fojtik seemed to boost the Wildcats immediately on Saturday. They had lots of energy and secured a vital 4-2 win over the Tigers at the Link Centre. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the anticipated four-point weekend for the Cats as they fell yet again in overtime to the Peterborough Phantoms on Sunday.

In Swindon on Saturday, captain Aaron Nell opened the scoring midway through the first period before Nicky Watt skilfully scored to give the Cats a 2-0 lead after one period of play.

Chris Jones fired home the only goal of the second period to put Swindon 3-0 ahead and the two points looked highly likely for the Wiltshire side at this point.

They didn’t make it easy for themselves, though, as Telford grabbed two late goals to set up a nervy final two minutes. Swindon stood strong and sealed victory through Watt, who bagged an empty-net goal for a 4-2 win.

On Sunday, the Cats travelled to Peterborough. They got off to a dream start as fan’s favourite Jonas Hoog scored with just 49 seconds on the clock. Michal Kapicka scored early in the second period to double the visitors’ lead and a third goal came shortly after for Swindon as Watt continued his successful weekend. It was the Cats’ game to lose at this point.

The Phantoms started their comeback at the end of the second period courtesy of a James Ferrara powerplay goal. With three minutes left in the third period the Cats still led 3-1. However, Tom Carlon then fired one low past Dean Skinns before Jozef Sladok grabbed a thrilling equaliser with less than a second left in the game to send it to overtime.

Swindon’s overtime struggles continued as Tom Norton finished a slick move from the Phantoms to clinch an unlikely victory.

Despite letting the game slip in Peterborough, there were a lot of positives for the Wildcats to take from the weekend. After a slight dip in form, Nell had a great weekend and is starting to look back to his best.

The addition of Fojtik looks to be a coup by head coach Ryan Aldridge. Fojtik will certainly add some much needed physicality to the squad and when Shane Moore returns from injury, the Wildcats will have a very good defensive unit indeed.

This weekend, the Cats welcome Peterborough to Swindon on Saturday before travelling north to face a tough challenge against the Manchester Phoenix on Sunday.