AARON Nell conceded his Swindon Wildcats side were always going to be up against it after their English Premier League season ended in a disappointing 7-3 defeat at home to Basingstoke Bison last night.

The Cats headed into the contest with only pride to play for at the Link Centre after their hopes of play-off glory were dashed with a game to spare following Saturday night’s results but they were unable to give their home fans one final cheer for the campaign.

Swindon were missing a clutch of key players against Bison and Nell felt that had a big impact on Sunday’s game, as well as their play-off challenge overall as their quest to qualify for finals weekend at Coventry came up short, with Basingstoke and Milton Keynes Lightning the sides to progress from Pool B.

“It was always going to be a tough game to play. Basingstoke are on a high as they are building towards the semi-finals next week, whereas we knew it was our last game of the year,” said Nell.

“Of course it’s tough knowing we had nothing to play for but I thought the boys worked really hard and Basingstoke are a good team.

“We played hard but we had Robin (Kovar) and Phil (Hill) not playing and they are a big part of our line-up. Considering all the players we have got out, it was always going to be a tough game to win.

“We are disappointed with how the play-offs ended up. I didn’t think we had a great chance but I thought if we played well in the key games we’d have a good chance, but it wasn’t to be.

“There is a lot of learning to be done and we have got to come back stronger.”

The Cats were on the back foot for most of the match and Tomas Karpov gave Basingstoke the lead after seven minutes.

Swindon’s challenge then got a lot tougher when they were forced to play with three men for two minutes and although they survived that tricky spell unscathed, their good work was undone a matter of seconds after they returned to full strength as Aaron Connolly got Basingstoke’s second.

However, Swindon fought back and Max Birbraer gave them a lifeline just a minute before the first buzzer sounded.

The home side tried to increase the pressure in the second period but were undone by a sloppy spell just after the half-hour mark as Joe Miller and Derek Roehl put Basingstoke 4-1 to the good.

Goals continued to flow for the visitors in the final period as Ciaran Long and Miller were both on target.

Tomasz Malasinski cut the gap again but that was cancelled out by Karpov, although Swindon did at least have the consolation of getting the final goal of the evening as Adam Finlinson netted with four seconds to go.

Nell felt Swindon’s 3-1 loss in the reverse fixture at Basingstoke – match three of six in the play-offs – was what ultimately cost his team the chance of fighting for silverware next weekend.

“The Basingstoke away game was tough,” said Nell.

“We played a great first period and they weren’t at their best that night but we still couldn’t find a way to win.

“I don’t think they were there for the taking because Basingstoke are never there for the taking, but we had a great opportunity to win that game and were in a really good spot.

“It’s disappointing because I thought we had a good chance to get through to the semis but it’s tough.”