DESPITE watching his side suffer an overtime defeat to Basingstoke Bison player-coach Aaron Nell was happy with the performance from his side.

The Wildcats took the lead half-way through the opening period when Ben Nethersell bundled the puck over the line.

Three minutes later the Cats then found themselves chasing the game following goals from René Jarolin and Aaron Connolly as they trailed 2-1 going into the break.

However Swindon jumped out in the second and regained the lead thanks to Max Birbraer’s quick double which put them 3-2 up.

Three then became four when Jordan Kelsall added his name to the list of scorers. But the hosts imploded in the final 10 minutes of the second, conceding three times.

Tomas Karpov and Grant Rounding, who scored two, hauled the visitors to a slender lead as they went into the final period with a 5-4 lead.

With eight minutes left Robin Kovar was on hand to force overtime which saw Jonas Hoog miss a penalty shot before Stuart Mogg snatched a win for Bison.

While the Wildcats chief admits his side were in a prime position during the second period, he is adamant there is plenty to be cheerful about after the loss.

“It was a good game. We are all looking to the play-offs now and both teams played really hard,” said Nell “We came out the wrong side of it but I saw a lot of positive things tonight. The overtime was tough but I’m happy with my team.

“Tonight they scored in bunches, we have to learn that if we do let in a goal then we don’t have to panic.

“There were a lot of good things tonight, obviously we would’ve loved to win but there are positives.

“We got ourselves in a great spot. We are going to have down times and they are a great hockey team.

“They’re going to control games, it happens and it was never going to be easy against Basingstoke Bison.”

The Wildcats will now travel to Basingstoke for their final game of the regular season and Nell wants to see the same level of intensity from his players in the reverse fixture.

“We have to go in full tilt tomorrow. Both teams will go in hard on each other and that is the way you want it,” he added.

“Wednesday is going to be big and playing Basingstoke this weekend is good for us and I think it will get us ready for the play-offs.”