SWINDON Wildcats player-coach Aaron Nell says there will be no quitting from his side after they left themselves with a gigantic task to make it to the play-off finals following Wednesday night’s defeat.

The 6-2 defeat to Milton Keynes Lightning at the Link Centre leaves Nell and his troops needing a favour from their midweek conquerors this weekend.

Swindon travel to Hull Pirates on Saturday knowing only a win would suffice to keep their ambitions of making it to Coventry alive and take it into the final game of Group B against Basingstoke Bison.

Cats’ hopes could be dashed before Sunday if Bison are able to pick up at least a point from their home tie with Lightning on Saturday night but Nell has refused to give up hope.

“Basingstoke are very good at home but hopefully Milton Keynes will do us a favour and then it is all to play for if we win on Saturday,” he said.

“Wednesday was a very frustrating loss but there is nothing we can do except try to bounce back the best we can and play hard this weekend.

“The one thing we can’t do is quit. We are going to go all the way. Even if there is nothing to play for us in that last game, we’re going to go at Basingstoke hard.

“Our fans have been very loyal this year and we hope to have a good send off to finish the year.

“(Hull) is a very tough place to play. Of course we’d like to be in a better situation but there are no complaints.

“We are where we are and we have got to do our best and be professional and hope that we can get out of it.”

Injuries have taken their toll on Nell’s team in his first full season in charge but heads to Hull with only season-long absentees missing from his roster.

However, he admits losing netminder Stevie Lyle in the first game of the play-offs last week to illness was a tough pill to swallow.

“The injuries we’ve had have been difficult and we have been patched up all season,” he added.

“There’s been a lot of injuries to key players, which has cost us.

“It’s not an excuse.

“It happens and it kind of summed up our luck this season when, (for) the first game of the play-offs, our top player is as sick as a dog.

“I’m not saying we would have won the game last Wednesday with Stevie in goal but it would have been a lot closer than it was.

“Crispy (backup netminder Michael Crisp) was great but when your most important player is not playing in the first game and he’s your goalie, you’ve always got an uphill battle.”