PLAYER-COACH Aaron Nell says the Swindon Wildcats have their sights set on redemption as MK Thunder visit the Link Centre.

Last week the Wildcats suffered a shock defeat on home ice, losing 4-1 to Streatham – their first defeat at home this season.

While the Wildcats were able to collect the win a day later in the reverse fixture, Nell says it is important to him and his team that they put on a show in front of an expecting home crowd.

With that in mind, he claims the club have been working hard in training during the week to rectify their poor performance seven days ago.

“It’s massively important that we put last weekend right, it is big for us as a group and I think we owe it to our fans too,” he said.

“Last week we weren’t very good. We take pride in our performances and we have been great at home so far this season, last week was the worst possible game we could have played really.

“We need to bounce back and make sure we put in a good performance this weekend to create some momentum again at home.

“Training was good. The players are focussed, and they want to bounce back with a good weekend – they’re a good set of lads that want to do well.

“They know we weren’t good enough last week and want to make amends for that.”

The Wildcats are one of the strongest teams in their league and according to Nell, that brings it’s own set of challenges.

So far, many teams have adopted a defensive style of play in order to frustrate the hosts, and after falling for it last weekend, Nell stressed that his players must force the issue against Thunder on Saturday.

“The strength of MK is their goaltending. In the last few weeks the teams we have been playing haven’t really come at us, they have been quite passive,” he added.

“I can imagine it will be the same this week but we have to learn from that and make sure we play with more speed and be more direct, which we weren't last week.

“We will have to be a little bit patience but I think we will have to create our own luck.

"When teams protect the middle of the ice, it is easy to go to the perimeter and around the outside and that is what we did last week.

“This year we need to take charge, be more aggressive and get in front of the net.

"I'm not sure what goalie they'll play tonight but whoever it is, they are both very good and we need to get into their net more."

Tomorrow evening the Wildcats are back in action as they travel London Raiders.