SWINDON Wildcats’ player-caoch Aaron Nell admits his side blew their chance of getting a win against Telford Tigers.

The Wildcats held a strong advantage in the second period after Jan Kostal’s hat-trick hauled his side into a 4-2 lead.

However, the home side then conceded with two seconds left of the second period, before succumbing to a 6-5 defeat at the Link Centre.

Nell, who is out for the season with a dislocated shoulder, refuses to blame injuries for this weekend’s defeat.

“We were in control but the goal at the end of the second period killed it,” said Nell. “It was a soft goal at the end of the second and in the third (period) we didn’t show up - there are no excuses for that.

“We have let a lot of goals in recently, we have got to work harder because it isn’t good enough.

“We’ve got to compete in certain areas, do the little things, like Telford Tigers do and we didn’t tonight.

“We had a great opportunity and we blew it. It’s not good enough, we need to improve and that will only come from hard work.

“I know we have a lot of injuries, but we need to be working harder.”

Despite being on the wrong end of a 6-5 score line, Nell does see some positives to take forward, including two debut assists from Phil Hill.

“Sam Bullas and Floyd Taylor are playing really well at the moment and they play well with Max (Birbraer),” added Nell.

“That has been our best line for two weeks in a row so there are positives, there are always positives.

“(Jan) Kostal hadn’t scored in a while but you always know what you’re going to get from him but he got three massive goals today.

“We’ve brought new players in, Phil (Hill) was good today, he is very much like Kostal, you know what you’re going to get from him.

“It’s important for a team and when you are the coach it is a nice feeling, he won’t be up one night and down the next, he’ll do his thing.

“He’s professional, you can see he has that attitude when it got to 4-2 he wanted to get the next one, he’s going to help us a lot, he’s a big addition for us.”