PLAYER-COACH Aaron Nell says his troops were forced to work hard for a 3-2 win over London Raiders.

Swindon made a flying start to the game and took the lead within the first minute at the Link Centre through Phil Hill.

The former Telford made the most of Matthew Turner’s two-minute penalty for hooking, by notching a power-play goal in the 52nd second.

Swindon looked good to hold their lead into the second period, before Turner hit back for the away side with 50 seconds remaining.

The home crowd were audibly frustrated with Nell and his troops as they went back into the locker room at 1-1.

The third period picked up from where the second had left off as both teams struggled to get any control on the game.

Thankfully, Sam Bullas was on hand to get the Cats back in front as he pounced on a loose puck before poking it home, timed at 46:18.

Two minutes later it was level again, as Deakan Fielder offered up the puck far to easily to Jake Slyvester, who had no issues applying the finish. Hill was on hand to bail out the youngster when he notched his second of the game in the 51st minute to clinch the win.

“London worked very hard and we are a bit flat and a bit tired right now,” said Nell.

“We’ve had a lot of games and we need a bit of rest, we need a bit of practice – we have had 45 minutes practice in two weeks.

“We need to regroup, there were some big performances in there, Renny Marr had two great saves at the end of the game.

“I thought they were the better team in the first period. In the second, we had a lot of possession but we are just missing that cutting edge right now.

“We will get it back, we’ll be fine.”