Swindon Wildcats beat Romford Raiders 2-5 at Sapphire Ice and Leisure on Sunday afternoon to advance in the NIHL play-offs, adding a comfortable second-leg victory to Saturday's 4-3 overtime win at Swindon. The aggregate — 7-9 to Swindon across both matches — confirms the Wildcats through. Andrew Coxhead scored both Romford goals — a power play conversion at 36:46 and a shorthanded goal at 40:41 — but Swindon were in control for most of the match and Romford's multiple goalkeeper changes in the third period reflected the desperation of a side that couldn't close the aggregate gap.

For Swindon, vande Meerakker opens the scoring again — his third goal in two days, having converted the overtime winner at 60:07 on Saturday — and the Villegas-Wells combination continues to thread through Wildcats' most important moments.

Swindon take the first-period lead — penalties set the tone

Simultaneous offsetting penalties on Shaw (SWI) and Hugget (ROM) at 6:33 preceded vande Meerakker's goal at 7:14 — Villegas and Nell assisting — to give Swindon the lead and an early aggregate advantage. The first period ended 1-0.

The second period — Swindon extend, Romford pull one back

Coxhead was penalised for holding at 30:06 and Villegas converted the resulting power play at 31:48 — vande Meerakker and Wells assisting — to make it 2-0. Bebris was penalised for boarding at 36:19, and Coxhead scored Romford's first goal on the power play at 36:46 — Baker and Anderson assisting — to pull it back to 1-2. Griffiths restored Swindon's two-goal cushion with an unassisted goal at 34:46 — scored before the Bebris penalty, at 34:46, meaning the second-period sequence was Swindon 2-0, Griffiths 3-0, then Coxhead 1-3 on the power play — the period ended 3-1.

Third period chaos — Coxhead's shorthanded goal, fight, goalkeeper drama

The third period was fractious. Laishram was penalised for roughing at 40:00, and Coxhead scored shorthanded at 40:41 unassisted to make it 2-3 — a remarkable individual moment, scoring while Romford were killing their own penalty. Romford pulled their goalkeeper at 43:59, had Jones penalised for hooking simultaneously at 44:11, and Ceci came back on at 44:11.

At 52:45, a fight between Plews (SWI) and Tomalin (ROM) produced five-minute majors alongside Godfrey's cross-checking minor. Romford called their timeout at 53:43, pulled their goalkeeper, Ceci came back on at 54:35, pulled the goalkeeper again at 58:19, and Bebris scored the empty net at 58:36 — Ceci coming back on at the same moment — to seal the 2-5 result. Watkins had already scored at 48:16 from Billing to make it 2-4 before Bebris's empty netter closed it.

Swindon advance. Romford's play-off is over.

Result: Romford Raiders 2 – 5 Swindon Wildcats
Romford Raiders scorers: Coxhead 36:46 PP (A: Baker, Anderson) — Coxhead 40:41 SHG unassisted
Swindon Wildcats scorers: vande Meerakker 7:14 (A: Villegas, Nell) — Villegas 31:48 PP (A: vande Meerakker, Wells) — Griffiths 34:46 unassisted — Watkins 48:16 (A: Billing) — Bebris 58:36 EN unassisted
Goaltenders: Renny Marr (SWI) | Cole Ceci (ROM)
Series result: Swindon Wildcats advance on aggregate (won 4-3 AET on Saturday, 5-2 on Sunday; 9-5 aggregate)