AARON Nell believes that time is running out for his Swindon Wildcats to learn to take matters into their own hands.

The Cats chief saw his side fall to a disappointing 5-4 defeat at basement boys Bracknell Bees tonight, with the visitors failing to take the initiative at any point of their trip to Berkshire while their spirited opponents took full advantage.

With the play-offs at the end of March approaching, head coach Nell believes that his troops are currently selling themselves short and should Swindon wish to hold their destiny in their own hands, they must show a lot more than they mustered against the Bees.

“We just weren’t up for it and they wanted it more. We got out-worked, and that shouldn’t happen,” said the Cats boss.

“All credit to Bracknell but we’ve got more to play for than Bracknell, and they deserved the win.

“We were too reactive. It seems that we can never take control of a game.

“When your top players aren’t doing it, it’s pretty tough to ask 18-year-olds to do it.

“We were good in parts but they were always in control, always ahead, and it’s not acceptable.

“We’ve got some players that are supposed to be top players in this league and they didn’t do enough.

“We can never get ahead in games. All our wins are by a goal, maybe two, and we need to learn not to be so reactive.

“We need to take games to teams, especially the teams below us.

“No offence – we are the better team, but they were the better team tonight and you’ve got to give them credit for how hard they worked and how much they wanted it.

“We’ve got one more trophy to play for and we can’t just turn up on March 22 and think: ‘oh yeah, we’re going to win the play-offs’ – we’ve got to start preparing now.

“We’ve got to put in more effort. If we’d won tonight, we’d have been in fifth place.”

Nell was without the services of forward Max Birbraer, who was serving the second of a three-match suspension, as well as the injured Sam Bullas and Kyle Smith, who looks set for a lengthy spell on the sidelines.

However, the Swindon coach doesn’t believe that a shortened roster offers an excuse for his top players not to perform to their best.

Nell added: “It’s tough. They’ve got a lot of responsibility, and if we didn’t have all our injuries and suspensions, maybe it’d be a bit less on them but we’ve got to look like we actually want to be here.

“At the end of the day, people are playing for their next season’s contract and we’ve got to be better.”