SWINDON Wildcats player/coach Aaron Nell knows his side need to find their ‘killer instinct’ if they are to prevent any nervy finishes in the future.

Swindon put themselves into a commanding 4-1 lead going into the final period at the Link Centre this evening before two late goals for Manchester Phoenix made for a tense final minute.

However, the hosts were able to hold on for the win, their third in a row, and Nell is keen to build on that success.

"I thought it was good," he said.

"We started a bit slow and then really picked it up for about 40 minutes and the last 10 we just need to get a little bit of that killer instinct.

"Maybe in the first 10 minutes of the third period we were playing so well that we took the foot off the gas a little bit.

"A win is a win and we played well enough in the first 50 minutes to let our foot off the gas, but that is something we are going to work on.

“It is a learning curve for us. We are very young and we are going to be very good in spots and struggle in others.

“(Manchester) had nothing to lose in the third period because it doesn’t matter if they lose 7-1 or 4-3 so they were a bit loose and it made us a bit loose.

"That is three in a row now and we just need to keep on building."

Tomasz Malasinki and Jan Kostal gave Swindon the ideal start as they both scored in the first period before Stanislav Gron scored a deflected goal to half the deficit.

Nell scored a second period brace to extend Swindon’s advantage before late goals from Gron and Ben Wood made for a tense finale.

Nell’s first goal of the night marked his 250th regular season goal and he was pleased that it was an important one in the context of the game.

“I have been here a long time and it is always nice to score a landmark goal,” he added.

“It was a big goal (in the context of the game), with them having just scored and to give us some breathing room again.

“I thought Hoog had one of his better games since he has come back and our line just need to keep doing that.”