AARON Nell hopes Swindon can continue to serve up thrillers in the vein of Saturday’s 7-5 EPL victory over visitors Basingstoke.

The 24-year-old forward scored a hat-trick in his first appearance since signing a two-way deal from Sheffield Steelers, which proved the main talking point in a game not lacking in incident.

And the former Coventry man hopes that supporters will continue to flock to the Link Centre as Wildcats battle to keep their place in the play-off spots.

Nell said: “It was nice to score a hat-trick, we had a packed house and the fans made a lot of noise and I hope everyone enjoyed the game.

“Yes, we want to win but we also need to make sure the fans enjoy it and have a good night out and hopefully they will come back again.

“We played a great game, especially with Stevie Lyle going out like he did (the netminder was thrown out in the second period for high-sticks).

“We all rallied round Crispy (Michael Crisp) and played really well.”

Swindon held a 1-0 lead at the end of the first period thanks to Nell who took less than three minutes to get on the scoresheet on his return to a Wildcats jersey (2.58).

A madcap second period ensued with Adam Harding making it 2-0 at 21.51, before Joe Miller pulled one back unassisted and shorthanded at 27.20.

Lyle was then thrown out of the game at 28.15 with Crisp replacing him, and the youngster was immediately under pressure as both Ciaran Long (30.16) and Miroslav Vantroba (31.23) converted on the powerplay to make it 3-2.

However, Nell (31.51) and Jonas Hoog (33.09) restored the home side’s one-goal advantage with two shorthanded efforts.

Miller pulled the Bison level with the fifth goal in just over three minutes (33.34) and then Long got his second on the powerplay to put the visitors back in front (37.13).

But Sam Smith levelled matters at 37.39 and then Nell completed his hat-trick in the third period (45.45).

With Basingstoke looking for a late equaliser, Henri Sandvik made sure of victory when he fired home at 58.51.

Nell was downhearted not to make it four points out of four over the weekend as Swindon slipped to a 7-6 defeat at Telford last night.

He said: “It’s always tough playing at Telford and we switched off, we weren’t good enough defensively.

“I know me and Jonas weren’t good enough either and we were probably the problem tonight.

“We gave ourselves a chance at the end but Telford have a much better team now with all the new players they’ve got.

“We’re disappointed but we move on to Wednesday.”