SWINDON Wildcats player-coach Aaron Nell was left frustrated after his side continued their wretched recent home form with a 5-4 loss to the Bracknell Bees.

The Wildcats battled back from 4-1 down to square proceedings up at 4-4, however less than a minute later Bracknell grabbed the winning goal to stretch Swindon’s home record in December to played four, won one.

Aiden Doughty had put the Bees ahead early on before a superb counter from the home side sent Sam Bullas through on goal, a well-taken one on one putting the Cats level.

The Bees then put up three unanswered goals before Toms Rutkis started the comeback midway through the second period.

Bullas and Rutkis both netted once more as a hotly contested game threatened to deliver the climax any neutral would have been glad to witness.

Yet, 57 seconds after squaring things up, Vanya Antonov squeezed the puck under Cats netminder Renny Marr and the Bees buzzed off with the points.

Nell was left wondering what might have been for his side and felt Bracknell’s game plan worked perfectly as the rhythm of the game was constantly disrupted.

He said: “It was a tough game. It’s very frustrating. I thought it was a good hockey game and we did well to come back to 4-4, but we’re having to work very hard right now to score goals.

“I know we have been scoring but not enough to get us out of trouble and it’s a frustrating loss.

“It was a sucker punch to concede right after we equalised.

“The execution isn’t there right now, but I can’t fault anyone’s work rate tonight.

“We just had to work very hard to score and the execution in a lot of areas wasn’t there.

“There were a lot of penalties which the referees had to call because both teams were pretty undisciplined. We want a constant flow to a game and we didn’t get that. It was a difficult night.”

The Wildcats have now won just one of their last five games and Nell believes his players are suffering from trying too hard in front of goal, but number 19 remains convinced his side will turn it around soon.

He said: “On the puck, I think guys are holding their sticks pretty hard right now, myself included, but we’ve got a long way to go in this season.

“The top teams are going to start beating each other but the problem right now is that Peterborough are flying.

“We need to get through the next three games and then really push on in the new year.

“We’re in a bit of a rut but we’re going to get out of it, I can guarantee you of that.

“Being more clinical is a big thing for us right now, I’m part of that, of course. We’re just letting in goals at tough times and putting ourselves in holes.

“We need to figure that out for tomorrow while putting the same work ethic in and if you work hard then you start getting the bounces.

“We need to start winning hockey games again.”