SWINDON Wildcats’ Toms Rutkis believes his best is yet to come following his return from injury after a knee injury kept him out of action for three months.

Rutkis picked up the problem in early October when he was on international duty with the Great Britain U20s.

The teenager made his long awaited comeback in last Saturday’s 2-0 home defeat to the Peterborough Phantoms and admits he’s still not quite up to speed.

“It was good (to be back). I missed being on the ice, in front of the fans and under the bright lights, sometimes you forget how good it feels,” he said “I don’t think I am up where I was before my injury to be honest. I have a few things to work on and it is tough when you have been out for three months.

“It’s almost like having a summer break. I felt okay but there are some things I’d like to work on.”

The 19-year-old says he was glad to be back on the ice, but would rather have seen the game end with a different outcome following the rare home defeat.

“It’s a shame about the result. I think we played pretty well," he added.

"Their goalie played well so maybe we need to play a bit differently, be more direct, more shots and keep things a bit more simple.

“It just wasn’t meant to be. Sometimes you just don’t have the luck on your side, but they made it hard for us."

Rutkis isn’t the only player to have suffered with injuries this season for the Wildcats, player-coach Aaron Nell and Callum Buglass have both been ruled out until the end of the season.

Ollie Stone and Mark Smith remain on the sidelines, while the club also announced that Matt Selby will not feature for the side again this campaign. But despite the change in personnel, which saw Phil Hill arrive at the Link Centre in December, Rutkis believes there is still a strong group of players,who are more than capable of mounting a play-off challenge.

“It’s different, I have only played a few games, but I think we have a good team,” Rutkis said.

“We have to play every game as hard as we can, get as many points as we can and be playing like we want to be playing in the play offs.”