Nell Takes Positives From Guildford Loss & Eyes Triple Header

Swindon Wildcats' head coach Aaron Nell was in a reflective mood this week, following Saturday's home defeat to Guildford Flames. Despite putting in a hearty and determined performance, Nell's side ended a rare one-game weekend with no points added to the league table.

Speaking to Total Sport following the Flames tie, Nell rued his side's inability to take advantage of a high octane opening five minutes.

"It was a very good hockey game and they (Guildford) got the bounce in the third. It was always going to be one goal that won the game. In the third period they got that bounce and the lucky goal," Nell said.

"We worked extremely hard tonight and got caught up on the wrong side of the score line.

"In the first period we were very good. We had two bad shifts which cost us and they're a team where, if you give them a chance, they will take it.

"In the first five minutes we were flying and in the end it hurt that we didn't get the first goal because if we had of got that first goal in the first five minutes it would have been a completely different hockey game, I can guarantee that," Nell added.

A positive from the clash was the return to blistering form of Canadian import Carlo Finucci, who soon rediscovered his goal scoring touch.

"Carlo had his best game in three months. He was back to where he was in November and that's good to see," said Nell.

"I think an overtime game would have been a fair result and whoever got that extra point, good for them. But we worked extremely hard but just didn't quite take our chances.

"The result wasn't positive but it was a positive performance. It was fast paced and felt a bit like a play off game," he added.

The defeat meant the unlikely situation whereby the Wildcats finished the weekend without adding a single point to the board, something Aaron Nell's side are not accustomed to.

"You never want to have a weekend where you get zero points. But we've had only two weekends all year where we've come away with nothing. We're doing really well and they were a very experienced team tonight," he said.

Next up the Wildcats face their busiest weekend of the season to date, with three games in three days without star player Tomasz Malasinski, who is to be called up for the Poland national side.

"We'll be ready and we're going to work as hard as we can for three games. People are going to be writing us off as we're playing the top two teams in the league without our best player, and it's going to be tough but we're going to enjoy it and go there positive," said an optimistic Nell.

Though Swindon will be without Malasinski, Nell's plan for the triple header is rather simple - pure hard work.

"Play as hard as we did tonight (against Guildford), cut out a few little mistakes and I think we'll be alright. We do do well at Milton Keynes, but so does Tomasz, so we'll see what happens," he said.