PLAYER-COACH Aaron Nell reckons Swindon Wildcats’ dominant final half-hour meant they were well worth their 4-2 win at Sheffield Steeldogs tonight.

The Cats found themselves a goal in arrears in the opening skirmishes of each of the first two periods at iceSheffield but battled back bravely to claim a hard-fought road win in the English Premier League.

Swindon were caught napping early on and Donatas Kumeliauskas put Sheffield in front inside 90 seconds but that lead did not last long and Cats captain Jan Kostal soon cancelled it out as the first period ended all-square.

Again there was a slow start for the visitors in period two as Tim Smith pounced for Sheffield early on but two goals in the space of two minutes just after the half-hour mark from Tomasz Malasinski and Phil Hill saw the Cats get their noses in front heading into the final 20 minutes.

It was one-way traffic in the final period as the Cats looked to put the game to bed and although they had a flurry of chances, a solitary Jonas Hoog strike was enough to seal the win.

“In the first 25 minutes of the game, they were probably the better team and then I think we took over and the last 35 minutes, we were really good,” said Nell.

“We were using the whole bench and everyone was working hard and I think in the end, we definitely deserved to win.

“We wanted to get a good start in the second period but they scored straight away but we bounced back well and for the rest of the game, we played really well and it was quite comfortable and it was good to see.

“It was a must-win and this is a tough place to come. They have been struggling the last little while but it’s a tough place to play and when they went up 1-0 in the first two minutes, you think: ‘Here we go again’.

“We came back well and got some big goals and deserved the two points.”

The win in Yorkshire made up for the Cats’ 2-0 home loss at the hands of Peterborough Phantoms 24 hours earlier and Nell said his side could not afford to come away from the weekend with nothing to show for their efforts.

“Two points would have been the minimum. We really wanted four this weekend but it didn’t happen,” said Nell.

“On Saturday night, I didn’t think we played too bad. We came up against a hot team and we weren’t quite good enough in front of the net.

“The way we played tonight was very positive and we have got to move on to next week now.”