SWINDON Wildcats player-coach Aaron Nell was happy with the grit his side showed after they claimed a win on penalty shots against the Sheffield Steeldogs.

After a goalless first period, Tomasz Malasinski put the hosts ahead just before the half-hour mark.

But a quickfire double from the visitors meant Nell's side found themsleves trailing midway through the second.

Luckily, Robin Kovar was on hand to restore parity with eight seconds of the second period remaining.

In the third, the Steeldogs caught the Cats napping as they took the lead for the second time, before doubling their advantage shortly afterwards.

But the home side wouldn't lie down as Lee Richardson and Jonas Hoog forced the game into overtime.

With the extra five minutes not enough to split the teams, it went down to the wire, with Kovar scoring the winning penalty, leaving Nell delighted with the way his troops got back into the game.

"It was a very entertaining game and luckily we got the win in the shootout," he said.

"We got a big goal at the end of the second. We are putting ourselves in bad positions and we need to control games more.

"It's something we have to learn to do and we have to learn to do it pretty quickly.

"We got ourselves out of a big hole there, we need to learn to lead games and control games more."

Tomorrow, the Wildcats hit the road and travel to Bracknell Bess with Nell under no illusions that it will be a tough game for his team.

“It’s a big game and they are going to come out hard, like they did last week and we have to be a lot better than we have been in the last three games,” he added.

“If we play at our best, we have a very good chance of winning. If we don’t, they are going to jump all over us.

“We need a good start and to control the game. If we do then we will have a good chance of getting a win.”