THE Bespoke Guardians Swindon Wildcats head coach Aaron Nell wants his team to improve their powerplay hockey after a costly third period against MK Lightning last Saturday.

Swindon beat Basingstoke Bison 5-3 at the Link Centre on Friday night but let a one-goal lead slip away at fierce rivals MK Lightning the following day.

Nell felt a struggling powerplay operation caused the 3-1 defeat and has therefore had his players work hard on improving their special teams tactics in training this week.

Reflecting on a tough loss against one of the Cats' title rivals, Nell said: "It was obviously frustrating.

"We had the lead going into the third period, and that's all you want when you're going to another top team's rink.

"It was a difficult place to play, it was a big crowd there on Saturday night, and we'd done really well to be in the lead.

"But then their powerplay was excellent in the third and ours really struggled - I think that was the difference between the two teams in the end.

"Both goalkeepers played really well, both teams played hard, but it was the powerplay that won them the game.

"We've done a lot of work on our powerplay this week, so hopefully we can bounce back this weekend."

Swindon will hope to respond and collect four points when they take on Peterborough Panthers at home on Saturday before taking on the Raiders away on Sunday.

Despite the two sides' respective league positions, Nell believes Peterborough are one of the toughest teams to face right now.

He said: "Peterborough are sixth in the league, but since the start of the year they've probably been the second best team in the league after Telford.

"They've brought in a new import recently, they've got some players back from injury, and they're high in confidence.

"It will be a tough test for us, we need to be ready, and we've already beaten them twice already at home.

"They'll want to come into our rink and prove to themselves that they can win here."