WITH less than 10 minutes left on the clock, Bracknell Bees were leading Swindon Wildcats 4-1 and appeared to be cruising, writes Dave Wright.

It was looking an ideal preparation for next weekend’s play-off quarter-final against London Raiders.

The visiting fans were sitting in almost total silence, even their second goal hardly earned a cheer.

But then it all changed – in quite remarkable fashion. Goal, followed goal and they were all at the Bracknell end, leaving Swindon the 6-5 winners.

If was quite astonishing with both sets of supporters rubbing their eyes in disbelief.

The cheering Cats’ lovers were on their feet, while many Bees fans headed for the exit.

This must have been one of the most dramatic third periods to any game witnessed in the league this season.

For much of this final Division 1 South fixture, Bees certainly had the edge over their third-in-table opponents.

Bracknell News:

Swindon Wildcats fire the puck past Bees netminder, Alex Mettam.

There was some good link up play and, while home net-minder Alex Mettam had to stay alert, Swindon’s ex-Bee Matt Smital was the busier of the two goalies.

The Wildcats also lost the services of Ben Nethersell in the 19th minute when he was given a five-minute suspension plus a game ban for slashing.

And Bees took advantage of power-play to open the scoring just seconds before the first interval through Scott Spearing’s close-range dab.

Shaun Thompson had a hand in that goal and was also involved in the second in the 27th minute. Tom Avery’s shot rebounded off Smital’s pads and Alex Barker was in the right position to tuck home the puck. Again it was on power-play with Phil Hill sitting it out this time.

Less than two minutes later, Josh Ealey-Newman made it 3-0 and George Norcliffe added a fourth to make it an unhappy return to the Hive for young Smital, who faced 19 shots during the second period.

That was three more than Swindon had mustered in the first 40 minutes, but they did pull one back through Sam Bullas 45 seconds before the second interval.

Bees appeared to be holding their own for the first 10 minutes of the final period and there was little sign of the drama to come.

But, they took their foot off the accelerator and they somehow managed to pluck defeat out of the jaws of victory.

Edgars Bebris made it 4-2 on 50.07 and within two minutes Aaron Nell cheekily chipped the puck over Mettam’s shoulder.

Bracknell News:

Bees ace Scott Spearing shoots against Swindon Wildcats. 

The alarm bells started to ring on the Bees bench and they called a time-out.

But it failed to stop the rot and Mettam made a fine save from Nell before the same player made it 4-4 with four minutes 14seconds left on the clock.

Shortly afterwards, Bullas put the visitors ahead with Max Birbraer providing his fourth assist of the evening.

Callum Best and James Galazzi both went close to a Bees equaliser and they sent on an extra skater with Mettam being withdrawn.

So an empty net was awaiting and Birbraer slid home the puck for the sixth goal with 39 seconds remaining to complete a remarkable game.

Norcliffe was voted Bees’ man of the match with Bullas earning the vote for Swindon.

It was a sad way for Bees to end their league fixtures, but at least all it not lost as they have the play-off quarter-finals with London Raiders to look forward to this weekend, with the home leg on Saturday (6pm) and the return in Romford on Sunday (5.15pm).

The winners will face Basingstoke or Invicta Dynamos in the semi-finals a week later.