The Bristol Pitbulls avenged a recent defeat against local rivals Swindon Wildcats to keep their title hopes alive last weekend.

Richie Hargreaves' side suffered an agonising defeat against title favourites Swindon two weeks ago, when the Wildcats grabbed a winner with just 47 seconds left on the clock at the Bristol Ice Rink.

But the Pitbulls used that setback to motivate themselves ahead of the return clash and never looked in danger of a similar reverse, outplaying the Wildcats on their own patch to secure an impressive 7-4 victory.

The victory did not come without sacrifice following a flashpoint in the first period, which saw player-coach Hargreaves dismissed for fighting with Wildcats netminder Jamie Thompson.

Hargreaves is expected to serve a minimum suspension of two matches but the incident could not take the gloss off a weekend that the player-coach described as "the best to date" since the club reformed this season.

Twenty-four hours earlier, the Pitbulls had seen off the challenge of Chelmsford Warriors with a 6-4 win and they ended the weekend in third place.

Hargreaves said: "This was our best weekend to date. The boys stuck to what we practised in training over the last couple of weeks and dug deep to get back-to-back wins.

"The team are really taking on board what I've been trying to put to them in training and we are all getting our rewards for that hard work."

The Wildcats are back in action tomorrow (5.55pm) when they take on Romford Fury at the Bristol Ice Rink.

Hargreaves said: "I'll be absent from the line-up for a couple of games while I wait to hear how long I'll be banned, but it gives me a chance to really concentrate on coaching.

"Confidence is high in the camp at the moment and I am expecting us to keep taking it to teams."