AARON Nell conceded that his Swindon Wildcats side were made to pay for a slow start as they were beaten 3-1 away at Peterborough Phantoms in the English Premier League tonight.

Strikes from Owen Griffiths and Wehebe Darge put the hosts in control in the first period at Planet Ice and it took the Cats until four minutes from time to get on the scoreboard when Jonas Hoog found the net.

However, the fightback was a brief one as Darius Pliskauskas swiftly replied for the home side in the dying minutes to kill off the Cats’ hopes.

Player-coach Nell conceded that his team did not deserve to triumph in Peterborough after being forced to play catch-up early on.

“We played OK but we had two bad shifts that they jumped on. They executed in that first period and we didn’t and with Janis Auzins in goal, when you are down a couple, it’s tough to get back into it,” said Nell.

“It wasn’t through a lack of work ethic, it was just in that first period we didn’t quite execute like we should have and they were a bit hungrier around our net and that can’t happen.

“It’s a tough place to come and we worked hard but we didn’t get the two points we wanted, although I don’t think we deserved them. We will dust ourselves down and go again next week.”

The Cats’ cause was not helped by a flurry of penalty minutes, with Swindon players sent to the sin-bin on no fewer than 10 occasions at Planet Ice, while their Phantoms opponents were rarely sanctioned by the officials.

Although Nell did not feel his team were harshly treated by the men in the middle, the Cats chief has found in recent weeks that home teams get an easier ride.

“Maybe we lost our composure a little bit but they weren’t angels out there either,” said Nell.

“I don’t think we were picked on as we deserved the penalties we got and I don’t mind us getting seven or eight, but when they only get one, that’s pretty tough.

“It’s tough to win from the penalty box however good our penalty kill is but that’s three games now with one power-play away from home.

“I’m pretty sure in the three games we’ve played there has been more than one penalty on us. It’s just that bit of consistency.

“In the last six games I bet we’ve had no more than six power-plays. We have the best penalty kill and best power-play in the league but we never get the chance to go on the power-play.

“We deserved our penalties as there was a bit of indiscipline but they definitely didn’t have just one penalty and that’s very frustrating.”