PLAYER-COACH Aaron Nell says his troops overcame a sloppy start to produce an emphatic 10-4 win over MK Thunder at the Link Centre.

Nell was one of seven different scorers, as the Cats continued their recent good form, much to the delight of the Wildcats chief.

“We didn’t start the game very well and we have to give MK a lot of credit, obviously they didn’t have their main goalie in, and I think he is their most important player,” he said.

“We are glad we won. I think we ended up playing really well, so it was nice to get a comfortable win in the end.

“With the way we started we learned that we have to be ready to start any game. In the first shift we picked up a silly penalty, but managed to pick it up.

“Of course, it was great to get into double figures. We had a lot of people here tonight so hopefully they went home happy.

“We’re playing a bit of catch-up, we just need to keep on winning. We are sticking in there and hopefully we can do the same tomorrow.”

Nell opened the scoring in what was a frantic first period, when he took advantage of a loose puck by lashing it into the net in the third minute.

In the 10th, Thunder were level through Gareth Flaherty, who managed to find a way through Matt Smital in the Swindon goal.

The home side retaliated immediately via in-from Chris Jones as he found the left of the net, to tail off a sweeping move from the hosts.

Despite it all going well for Nell’s troops, they were pegged back once again deep into the opening period, Tom Carlon was on the end of a swift counter attack from Thunder with one minute and two seconds left of the first 20.

In the second period, the visitors got in front for the first time, courtesy of Rio Grinnell-Parke, but were hauled back to 3-3 when Nell netted nine seconds after, timed at 25:25.

Jones also doubled up in the 26th minute as his shot trickled through the glove of Joshua Crane to regain the lead.

The action didn’t stop there as the Cats boosted their tally to nine by the end of the second period, as Luc Johnson, Phil Hill, Mikey Power and Edgars Bebris got their first of the night, while Jones completed his hat-trick, Michael Stratford pulled one back for the visitors.

Sixteen seconds into the third, Sam Bullas added his name to the growing list on the scoresheet to make it 10-4 and round off the win.