SWINDON Wildcats player-coach Aaron Nell lauded the efforts of man of the match Loris Taylor after the D-man’s two goals put the Wiltshire side on their way to a 6-1 win over the London Raiders on Saturday night.

Nell’s side produced a stunning first-period display to almost put the result beyond doubt after 20 minutes and were 5-0 after one period.

Sam Bullas slapped the puck home in the first 45 seconds before Edgars Bebris made it two in the fourth minute.

Loris Taylor scooped in a rebound to make it three exactly a minute later while Jonas Hoog joined the action in the 17th.

Swindon completed a stunning first period when Taylor netted again with 30 seconds to go in the first.

A largely goalless second period was interrupted by a shock reply for the visitors which was greeted by a loud shout of ‘woo!’ – something the Cats fans took great delight in throwing back at the Raiders for the remainder of the match.

Hoog grabbed his second in the early stages of the third period to make it six and put Nell’s side one win closer to the league title.

With his side now within touching distance of the title, Nell said his side did the majority of their work in the opening salvos and made it an easy night for him as he watched on from the sidelines.

Nell said: “We won the game in the first period, but when you have a first period as good as that, it’s difficult to keep it up and London were a lot better in the second two periods as well.

“We did what we had to do and I’m very happy with two big points.

“When they called the time-out after going down 3-0 so early, I told the boys ‘we just have to keep on going’.

“It was very difficult for the players, especially after the first period when you’re up by five, to carry on and in the second we had that dip, but in the third I thought we were excellent again and we need to continue that.”

And the result was in no small part down to the efforts of Loris Taylor as the 25-year-old built on his own four-point weekend seven days ago by netting twice against the Raiders.

Nell was delighted with Taylor’s contribution and has backed his man to continue his good form.

Nell said: “He scored a big goal last week and got three points on Sunday. Then he’s got two big goals tonight and he’s been great all year.

“Especially in the last few games, he’s picked up again and he’s come a long way since the four-week trial at the start of the year.

“He bet on himself, he believed he could play at this level and he’s proved that he can.”

The Wildcats travel to Streatham on Sunday night looking for their 14th league win in a row.