SWINDON Wildcats owner Steve Nell has not ruled out the possibility of new additions before the month is out as he reflects on an injury-hit first half of the season.

With little over a third of the English Premier League season remaining, the Link Centre side sit seventh in the table, comfortably clear of the bottom three and only nine points off Peterborough Phantoms in third.

Swindon play host to Hull Pirates this evening (5.45pm), knowing a win can help them close the gap further on the teams above them and Nell believes there is plenty to be optimistic about moving forward.

“I think it has been a positive campaign so far,” he said.

“We had a good start and then started to get a lot of injuries, which was unfortunate.

“I think that has been a good test for us, to be honest.

“A good test for the team, a good test for Aaron (Nell, player-coach). With Aaron being out, it has left a bit of a hole in the team but I think the boys have responded to that.

“We’ve never had that many injuries in a season to such key players.

“Aaron was playing all the time so he could influence things a lot on the ice. Now he can’t influence it personally, he has got to influence it off the ice and by coaching.

“I think, in the long run, it will be a good learning curve for him and we’ll benefit as a club.”

As a result of those injuries to the likes of player-coach Nell and D-man Callum Buglass, who underwent surgery on his shoulder on Thursday, the Wildcats have been forced to search for replacements.

The likes of Matt Selby and Phil Hill have been brought in to help plaster over the cracks and Nell is still on the hunt for further British additions to add depth to the squad with the play-offs in mind.

“Aaron is always looking for players and the deadline is not until the end of January so we’re always keeping an eye out,” he said.

“You are always getting players coming through, more imports than anything, but we are happy with our import line-up so it is not about changing our imports.

“It’s more, can we add any Brits to add to our depth?

“At some points, we have been right down to the bare bones of eight forwards and we’ve had Jordan Kelsall step up.

“For a 17-year-old to step up and do what he has done, it has been unbelievable.

“We have got some injuries coming back now, Toms Rutkis is not far off now and hopefully we’ll have a little bit more depth for the rest of the season.

“For us it is about consolidating our last few games and starting to move up the table.”