AARON Nell struck an over-time winner with 11 seconds to spare as Swindon Wildcats’ impressive cup form continued.

Sitting pretty at the top of pool D in the NIHL Cup, Cats extended their fine form over Telford Tigers’ as the 3-2 over-time success was the fifth win over the Shropshire this term.

After a cagey opening five minutes at the Link Centre, Telford found themselves in penalty trouble when they had Corey Goodison sent to the box for hooking.

With the man advantage, Cats took the game to their visitors determined to make the most of the first power play of the night.

And just before Tigers were set to return to full strength, Luc Johnson drilled the puck goal bound and skipper Jan Kostal got an important deflection to find the net.

Telford managed to draw level just before the end of the first period as Joe Miller managed to squeeze the puck beyond Renny Marr.

The second period was had failed to light up the imagination until the final two minutes of the session.

Having suffered four defeats at the hands of Swindon this term, Telford took the lead as Rick Plant found the target after some good work by Jason Silverthorn.

However that lead was short-lived as Nell got his side back on less terms with 71 seconds of the period remaining after being played in by Jan Kostal.

Both sides went searching to find a winner in the final period of the game, however, neither could find the net forcing the match into over-time.

Swindon peppered the Telford throughout the five minutes and with just 11 seconds of the over-time remaining Nell tuck the puck away to win the match.

“I thought we showed lot more tonight, it wasn’t retty at times but we worked harder,” Nell said.

“They are decent team and their top end players are probably the best in the two leagues, it was a huge win for us and we showed something different tonight, a lot more than last week and I’m happy with that.

“We still have one more game against them next week and we want to win that too.

“It is always tough, they play the right way, they play hard and they are enjoyable games.

“When you play Telford you know are going to have a good game “Yes, we have won all five, but they have been very close and they could have won four if not five of them.”

Wildcats will look to maintain their NIHL Cup form tomorrow night when they head to Bracknell Bees.

Nell will have Jordan Kelsall and Joe Hazeldine at his disposal for the trip after the pair were with Elite League side Nottingham Panthers this evening.

“We are in a great spot in the cup and we want to get over the line and qualify as quickly as we can,” the player-coach added.