WILDCATS coach Kenton Smith thought that his side were lacking the stomach for the fight as they were beaten at home by Milton Keynes Lightning tonight.

Stevie Lyle’s men went out looking to bounce back from a crushing 6-0 defeat on the road at Guildford Flames last weekend but were left to reflect on another evening of disappointment as the Lightning, led by former Wildcats head coach Pete Russell, dispatched them 5-2 at the Link Centre.

Bench coach Smith thought that his players failed to win their individual battles against MK, something that he believes should be a prerequisite whenever they skate out onto the ice.

“I think our team if very offensive but we didn’t create as much as I thought we could have,” said Smith.

“The goalie saw a lot of the puck. There wasn’t enough traffic towards the net. There wasn’t enough battling in those rough areas, I think.

“And that’s another thing we have to address – battles.

“How you win games is in those tough spots – in the corners; in front of the net; along the bluelines. And that’s just not what we’re doing right now.

“I think if we play as a team and everybody’s on top of their game, we’ll win every night.

“We need everybody to give it their all and wake up in the morning, look in the mirror and say ‘you know what? I did a good job last night’ and right now, they can’t do that.”

Asked about the atmosphere in the Cats dressing room post-match, Smith said: “It’s tense but we’re hockey players - nobody likes to lose. Losing’s not fun, especially two in a row.

“But tomorrow’s a new day. We just get back at it, get back to the drawing board, and we’ll go from there.”