SWINDON Wildcats head coach Ryan Aldridge has called on his team to step up in the final games of the season to prevent them going into the play-offs in bad form after tonight’s humbling 8-4 defeat at home to Basingstoke Bison.

Aldridge was left frustrated after watching his side be outworked for much of the match and has demanded an immediate response when they travel to Sheffield Steeldogs tomorrow night to stop the season petering out.

With Aldridge having already announced that he will be leaving at the end of the season he has admitted it is a strange period for the club but has reminded his players that they are playing for their futures with incoming coach Stevie Lyle watching their every move.

"I am not going to say anything to the boys tonight. It is their locker room and I probably said enough during the first period break,” said Aldridge after the match.

“They have got to sort themselves and we will see how we will react tomorrow.

“We go back to the drawing board.

“Everybody wasn’t good enough tonight. Not one person came to work tonight, as simple as that.

“It is a funny period. Everyone knows I am moving on and everyone knows Stevie (Lyle) is the new coach.

“Everybody is playing for their jobs. Whatever they have got to play for, whether it is because I am not going to be coach next year, everyone knows who the coach is.

“The coach is sat in the locker room watching the same guys play, it is not as if they have got an easy ride for the rest of the year, they haven’t.

“The guys have got to perform if they want jobs next year and tonight, last weekend, guys haven’t performed and tomorrow night is a massive game leading into the play-offs.

“You go into a building like that and have a tough night and you are on a slippery slope and that can’t happen.”

Swindon were left short-benched tonight with the absence of Alex Symonds who pulled out at late notice after suffering an ankle injury stepping off a step-ladder at work.

That was compounded further when Tomas Kana went off late in the second period with a head injury following a coming together with Joe Rand, with the Czech forward likely to miss tomorrow’s trip to Sheffield.

"Obviously we were missing Symonds tonight last minute with an injury and we were short on D and we had to rely on team defence and tonight it wasn't there,” added Aldridge.

"We are going tomorrow to a team, who on their night, work as hard as Basingstoke do and I said this week that Basingstoke are the hardest working team and we got out-worked.

“He (Kana) is a little bit dazed from the hit from behind which wasn’t called.

“It is a head injury so we will take it day by day. He won’t be playing tomorrow obviously and we’ll assess him again on Monday.”