AARON Nell hopes that being forced to stave off a Hull of a fightback on Saturday night was the best thing for his Swindon Wildcats side.

Cats, who are just a whisker away from the play-offs, raced into a 5-0 lead against second-from-bottom Hull Pirates in their last home match of the regular season but the visitors roared back to put the squeeze on Nell’s troops before they were eventually vanquished 7-4.

Aiming to build as much momentum and consistency as possible, Nell was pleased that his troops weren’t allowed a stroll in the park at the Link Centre.

“We had a good start to the game and then we were a bit slack for five or 10 minutes and they came back into it,” said the Wildcats player-coach.

“They work extremely hard and that five-minute penalty killed us but we came back well. It was a tough game – they do work hard and when you go 5-0 up, you get a bit lax, but in the end, it was just a big win.

“It’s all about looking at ourselves and working hard. It is tough and I don’t like games when they’re high scoring; when you’re winning by seven, eight or nine, it does get a little bit boring.

“It’s about keeping going and getting good habits, and being ready for next week.”

Cats had to overcome losing captain Jan Kostal to a match penalty for his hit from behind on Sam Towner but Nell was able to hand youngsters Adam Finlinson, Kyle Smith and Ollie Stone some valuable ice-time.

The Swindon chief said: “(Losing Kostal) was just a massive hole in our line-up and I was just looking, trying to figure out who I was going to put in his place.

“Jani’s a great player and he does so many little things, and he’s so well respected in our dressing room, and when we are a bit down and struggling, he drags us out the hole, so he was a massive, massive loss.

“Adam played really well, Kyle did well, Ollie Stone was excellent – he looked really, really good out there – and they’re the future, and we’ve got to blood them in and give them a chance.”

Another player forced into an early end to their night was D-man Stevie Whitfield, who sustained a facial injury from a high stick.

Nell, who also recently received a nasty cut from taking a stick to his face, said: “He was pretty scared when he went off. He thought it was his eye but he’s fine.

“He was all showered before we finished the game, so he got very lucky.”

Swindon, who are expected to once again rest young defenceman Callum Buglass following his head injury earlier this month, travel to Telford Tigers tomorrow for their final regular season outing.

“It’s a good dress rehearsal before the play-offs and if they smell blood and if you’re not playing well, they’ll win by a lot of goals,” said Nell.

“We have to be ready and play like we did last Sunday (a 5-4 loss to league champions Basingstoke Bison).

“There’s not much pressure on us but we’ve got to work hard and get in good habits, and it’s good that we’re playing a team like Telford the game before the play-offs."