SWINDON Wildcats general manager Steve Nell was pleasantly surprised to see his side cruise to a four-goal aggregate win against a ‘good’ Telford Tigers outfit in Tuesday’s NIHL Cup semi-final.

The midweek second leg win, which earned Swindon a place in the final against Sheffield Steeldogs, also confirmed the club’s second final appearance this season after the Cats booked their spot in the Autumn Cup final last month.

Now Nell is calling on the Cats to pick the fruits of their labour with a pair of championship wins.

“It’s important we convert these cup finals into wins,” said Nell.

“Against Telford we played well in the first period and weren’t worried when they went a goal ahead.

“But I certainly didn’t expect us to run away with the game. Telford are a good team but it was good to win the way we did for our fans, who were great.

“Sheffield are a team we haven’t played this year but they’re in the same division as Telford. It will be an even contest.”

The Cats will complete their usual training drills this week before entering another crammed weekend of action league action.

Player-coach Aaron Nell’s men travel to Basingstoke Bison in NIHL South One on Saturday (6.30pm) before hosting London Raiders at the Link Centre on Sunday (6.15pm).

It continues a ruthless schedule, which has seen the club ice 20 times since the turn of the year, but Nell insists his team must remain focussed on the task at hand with the end of season play-offs approaching.

He said: “We had our expectations at the start of the season. We knew we’d be strong but you can’t take things for granted. It’s important to respect teams.”

Nell was also quick to highlight the ‘excellent’ support for the side throughout the season, adding: “A good following came up (to Telford) and everyone left pleased.

“Our fans have been excellent this year. We’re attracting strong regular support and those that travelled to Telford were noisy.

“Everyone performed on Tuesday and I’ve been pleased with Renny (Marr, netminder) this year too. He’s still a young lad but he’s done what we’ve asked him to do.”