Nell: We've Had A Solid Weekend But Mistakes Cost Us

Swindon Wildcats' head coach Aaron Nell was in a reflective mood following the full-time buzzer in South Yorkshire, after his side narrowly lost out to Sheffield Steeldogs in a frenetic thriller which could have gone either way.

Speaking to Total Sport, Nell was quick to praise the labours of his troops, who put in a solid 60 minutes of play, despite ending the tie on the wrong end of a 4-3 score line.

"I thought we played well tonight, the game kind of went like we wanted it to until the last seven minutes," Nell began.

"We made a couple of soft plays, which cost us in the end as they pounced on the mistakes we made. 

We worked hard tonight. We progressed, and we were a lot better than we were last weekend and that is a good sign. Little mistakes need to be eradicated," he added.

Looking sharp from the first buzzer, the Swindon outfit executed their match strategy according to plan, Nell admitted afterwards.

"We wanted to be tight in the first and then go on and try and get that win. We were in a good spot and we played hard all night. It was just one of those where they (Sheffield) pounced on an opportunity, on the mistakes that we gave them and then they got the two points. 

"In the last minutes of periods we can't be making plays like that, it's tough. We all know who we're on the ice against, they have top imports and very good players, very fast, and they were always looking for that turn over to go," Nell added.

A key moment of the tie came in the second period, as a loose puck given away by Carlo Finucci lead directly to a Steeldogs counter attack and subsequent goal.

"They capitalised on our mistakes. We didn't make many mistakes, but they capitalised upon the ones that we did," said Nell.

"Fair play to them, they took their chances. But it is tough to take a loss like that when you do play well. They just got the bounces tonight, but that's hockey and that's sport," he added.

Despite the scoreline not ending in their favour, Wildcats have again seen through a weekend by ensuring at least another two points were added to the board.

"We always pick up two points every weekend which is a positive, but we just need to try to not make mistakes, especially not at certain times and in certain parts of the ice. Keep them to a minimum and we'll be fine," said an encouraged Nell.

"That's the best two games (Phoenix and Steeldogs) we have played since the double away weekend where we picked up four points, so we have made progression. We played hard for 120 minutes this weekend and we need to keep on doing that and keep improving," he added.

Taking the the main plaudits on the evening was Wildcats' man-of-the-match Harvey Stead. The young d-man put in a solid showing, and earned the praise of Nell following the final buzzer. 

"Harvey was good tonight, he plays hard and he deserves his man-of-the-match. He goes under the radar a little bit but we're working hard on him each week," said the Cats' head coach.

Next weekend sees last season's champions Telford go head-to-head with the Wildcats once more, a challenge which Nell is all too aware won't pass lightly.

"We've got to be good on Saturday night because Telford are a very good team and it will be a tester. It's a massive, massive game.

We've got 19/20 games left and we're doing well, we're having a good year. It's the business end of the year and we've got to push towards the play-offs so we can go for a big end to the year," Nell added.