SWINDON Wildcats player-coach Aaron Nell took plenty of heart from defeat as his side were beaten in a penalty shoot-out away at Milton Keynes Lightning on Saturday night.

The Cats held the side sitting second in the English Premier League table to a 3-3 draw at Planet Ice and after overtime failed to produce a winner, it was the hosts who kept their composure the better in the shoot-out.

Swindon had actually come from a goal down to lead 3-1 early in the final period and although they were unable to see out the victory, Nell could not fault the performance of his side.

“I am very proud of the performance, we were fantastic,” said Nell.

“We were short again with Sam Bullas out of the line-up and we were up against a really good team but we played a really good game of hockey.

“I have to credit the players, they were fantastic. Everyone worked for each other and put their bodies on the line and at the end of the day, the shoot-out is a bit of a coin flip.

“We definitely deserved a point and I felt we deserved two with how hard we worked. We are so short right now but people are stepping up all the time and we played really well.”

Despite being short-handed at the time, Milton Keynes broke the deadlock in the closing stages of the first period through Blaz Emersic but the lead lasted less than a minute as Robin Kovar levelled with just 34 second left to send the teams into the changing rooms all-square.

Swindon then got their noses in front when Kovar got the only goal of the second period before Tomasz Malasinski got in on the act as the Cats made a flying start to the third.

However, Lightning soon roared back and goals from Mikolaj Lopuski and Craig Scott sent the game to overtime.

The additional five minutes failed to produce a winner and Swindon were unable to find one last hurrah when it came to penalties as Malasinski and Kovar both missed their efforts, while Lopuski and Antti Holli ruthlessly despatched theirs to hand the home side the extra point.

Nell felt the huge heart shown by his side all evening was epitomised by the Cats’ response to falling behind despite holding a numerical advantage in the first period.

“We had a broken stick at one end and they go up the other end and score and at that point you think: ‘Here we go’,” said Nell.

“But we bounced back in the next shift and showed a lot of character. Milton Keynes are a really good team but I thought it was a pretty even game and I am very proud of my team.”