AARON Nell is just glad Swindon Wildcats still have time to turn their English Premier League play-off campaign around after they were crushed 5-1 in their opener at Milton Keynes Lightning last night.

The Cats, seeded sixth for the end-of-season showdown, were always likely to be up against it at second-ranked Lightning, although their task at Planet Ice was not helped by the absence of first-choice netminder Stevie Lyle due to an illness.

This season, the play-offs have been changed to a four-team round-robin group format rather than a simple double-header quarter-final, so head coach Nell is relieved that Swindon still have five more fixtures remaining to try to qualify for finals weekend at Coventry on April 8-9 – starting at home to Hull Pirates on Saturday.

“It’s a difficult place to come but given the circumstances, I think we played pretty well and there were a lot of positives,” said Nell.

“Of course the scoreline is not positive but we have just got to be ready for Saturday now – this one is behind us.

“Stevie was very sick. He tried but he was sick as a dog. Hopefully he will be fine for the weekend.

“It was always going to be tough even with Stevie in goal but you lose him and you are on a hiding to nothing. He is the guy we have built our team around and when he is not there, it’s pretty tough.

“This was always going to be a tough game but these play-offs are longer now. If that happened last year, we’d be done, but we have got a long way to go yet, and come Saturday night, we’ve got to play a great game.”

It was a nightmare start for the Cats as they fell behind with little over a minute on the clock. Frantisek Bakrlik blasted in a powerful shot from close range that visiting netminder Michael Crisp could not hold and the MK import finished the job on the rebound.

However, Swindon rallied and that effort was all that separated the sides as the first buzzer sounded.

Nell’s side were again made to pay for a slow start to the next period, although this time they conceded twice in a horrible 30-second spell within five minutes of the restart.

First, Craig Scott lashed home Antti Holli’s delivery before Liam Hook followed up with the home side’s third from the next attack.

Mikolaj Lopuski then put the hosts four goals to the good when he was the quickest to react following a flurry in front of the Swindon goal, although the visitors did at least get something to show for their efforts before the next buzzer sounded when Tomasz Malasinski prodded home.

However, that failed to kick-start a comeback and the home side pulled further clear in the final period courtesy of a powerful effort from Luc Johnson to complete a tough night for the Cats.

Nell added: “It wasn’t the ideal start but we battled back really well in that first period but then we had a couple of mental breakdowns in the second.

“It wasn’t our best game ever but I thought the boys worked hard. Hopefully we will get Stevie back on Saturday and we’ll be ready for it.”