AFTER crashing to two heavy defeats at the weekend, the Swindon Wildcats have hit their first bad patch of the new season.

Head coach Ryan Aldridge was left angered by his team's display in their 7-2 loss to the Peterborough Phantoms at the Link Centre on Saturday.

Aaron Nell was on target for the hosts in a very scrappy first period that ended 1-1.

The Wildcats created absolutely nothing going forward in the second period as Peterborough started to take control. Goals from Milan Baranyk and Darius Pliskauskas gave the Phantoms a 3-1 lead heading into the final 20 minutes of action.

The Cambridgeshire side added to their lead early in third period, but Nell gave the Cats hope when he scored his second after a nice pass from Tomasz Malasinski.

As Aldridge's men tried to force their way back into the game, Latvian goaltender Janis Auzins had other ideas and was in formidable form.

The killer blow came with just under 10 minutes to play as Peterborough took a three-goal lead. Swindon ended up humiliated as Alan Lack scored twice in as many minutes to seal a great night for the visitors.

A tough task awaited the Wildcats on Sunday – travelling to the Telford Tigers, a team who had spent a lot of money in the summer.

Despite outplaying the Tigers through the first period, the Cats went into the break a goal down as Max Birbraer wound up a big slapshot to fire past Stevie Lyle.

The second stanza was the opposite of the first as Telford dominated. They took a deserved two-goal lead through Welshman Joe Miller, this time on the powerplay.

Lyle had an impressive game but received no support from his team offensively as they couldn't find a way past former Wildcat Thomas Murdy.

The Tigers sealed the deal midway through the third period with a Scott McKenzie goal.

The Cats look to get straight back to winning ways this weekend as they entertain the Guildford Flames on Saturday before making a trip to Bracknell on Sunday to face the Bees.