SKIPPER Shane Moore was determined not to let Wildcats’ heartbreaking play-off semi-final defeat cloud what has been a successful season for the club.

The Link Centre side went down to an overtime defeat to Manchester in Coventry on Saturday following a harsh penalty call on Aku Pekkarinen which eventually resulted in Frantisek Bakrlik’s winner for Phoenix.

However, speaking the day after the devastating defeat, Moore was able to cling on to the superb form his side showed during the second half of the season which saw Cats roar into the play-offs as the EPL’s form team.

“We are really happy with the way we’ve performed, not only in this game but over the course of the whole season because this is the best Swindon team we’ve had during my 10 years or so here,” he said.

“They boys have performed so well this year, and we’re really happy with that, although this one result has ensured it’s ended badly and left a sour taste.

“In the second half of the season we brought in some experienced guys like Jan Kostal, Lee Richardson and Aaron Nell and from then on things turned around and I truly believe we could have gone all the way.

“The calm was not needed in my opinion because in the play-offs there is kind of an unwritten rule where you pretty much have to take someone’s head off in the last minute of overtime for a penalty. Unfortunately the ref deemed it appropriate to give it and the rest is history.

“The two teams couldn’t be separated really and in my opinion the players should have decided the result on penalty shots and not the officials.

Despite their season coming to an abrupt end less than 48 hours ago, skipper Moore is already clock watching for the start of the 2014/15 season.

“The key for Swindon next season is to bring back a core of the players because Ryan has assembled a really good team,” he said.

“More than that we’ve had a good team spirit too and our team has been much like a clock. You can’t have 15 cogs and still expect the clock to function properly, you need other bits too to have a successful clock.

“The team spirit is a so important for any hockey team and if we can capture what we had this season, next season, then we will be going in the right direction.”