It was a double blow for Lukas Smital’s side, as the game doubled up as an English Challenge Cup fixture.

The Bees welcomed their local rivals to the Hive having secured back-to-back wins in front of the Bracknell crowd in recent weeks.

But Smital’s side were lacklustre throughout and struggled to get going, falling behind in the 13th minute and never recovering.

Both sides went close in the early exchanges, but it was the Wildcats who took the lead when Tomasz Malasinki hit a first-time shot across Alex Mettam in the Bracknell goal.

It had been an even start but the opener knocked the confidence out of the Bees, and they failed to test Swindon in the closing stages of the first period.

They were left holding on until the end of the first 20 after Matt Foord and Lewis Turner fell to slashing calls, giving the visitors a five-on-three powerplay, which the visitors failed to take advantage of.

But just five minutes into the second period, Swindon extended their lead when Lee Richardson fired home after a swift counter-attack.

Stevie Lyle in the Swindon goal sent a looped pass out to Richardson, and he controlled the puck before driving forward and unleashing a rocket shot into the top corner.

Moments later and the visitors all but put the game beyond doubt when Jan Kostal finished a neat move down the left-hand side with a good finish from close range.

The Bees were stunned by the quickfire double and could only prevent Swindon from extending their lead, with Smital’s side rarely threatening in the remainder of the second period.

But the home side came flying out of the blocks in the third period and reduced the deficit after just one minute and 47 seconds.

Matt Towalski slipped a shot underneath Lyle to give Bees hope, and they nearly grabbed another straight from the restart.

A pass was sent across goal but Vanya Antonov was inches away from connecting, as Bees briefly threatened to fight back.

With the game reaching boiling point, tensions began to rise between the rivals and after Scott Spearing was penalised for boarding, he started to exchange blows with Kenton Smith.

At the other end of the rink, Bees’ Ryan Watt and Sam Bullas dropped the gloves to settle another dispute as the Hive crowd roared on the home players.

All four were handed 2+2 roughing calls, whilst Swindon wrapped up the points from the resulting powerplay when Alex Symonds fired home from distance.

Bees remain bottom of the table, and will be looking to bounce back when they travel to Peterborough Phantoms this Saturday (7pm) before hosting Guildford Flames on Sunday (6pm).