On Saturday evening a frustrating 3-2 loss to Telford Tigers was witnessed by a bumper crowd of over 1400 at the Better Link Centre. The visitors took the lead after just 13 seconds when Jack Watkins had converted a very early penalty shot, to give the visitors a dream start in the top of the table clash. However at 6:17 the Wildcats equalised. Some strong work along the boards from Max Birbraer led to Tomasz Malasinski flying a puck over to Aaron Nell and the Wildcats coach slammed home the puck to make it 1-1.

However at 14:47 Jason Silverthorn doubled the Tigers goal tally and restore the visitors advantage heading into the first period break. In the middle period, things continued to go in the Tigers favour when Brandon Whistle made it 1-3 at 22:41. The Cats pressed and pushed but were unable to convert on any chances as both Brad Day and Renny Marr were making top drawer saves at either end of the ice rink.

The final period would go in favour of the Wildcats when unlikely scorer Stevie Whitfield converted at 45:53 to reduce the deficit to one goal however it would prove to be the last goal of the game as the Tigers held on for the remaining 14:07 minutes and secured what could have been their most crucial win of the season in the race for the title.

Aaron Nell wasn’t too frustrated by Sunday night’s overtime defeat to Peterborough Phantoms, a result that threw the National League title race wide open after Telford Tigers lost on the road to Hull.

In truth, the weekend could have been completely fruitless for Wildcats given they trailed form team Peterborough by three goals to one at the end of the first period.

Phantoms struck their three goals in a devastating five-minute period with Tom Norton grabbing a brace while Ales Padelek also found the back of Renny Marr’s net.

Edgars Bebris added Cats’ second in the middle period before Toms Rutkis levelled the tie at 56.47 to force overtime once more.

An extraordinary comeback couldn’t be completed, though, as Phantoms scored the winning goal.

Nell said: “It’s always frustrating to lose in overtime, but we did really well to bring the game back.

“We played really well, but Peterborough are the form team in the league.

“I’m very proud of the team after a tough night on Saturday (against Telford) and pleased with the point.

“Peterborough is the toughest rink to visit, and we were playing the form team. Overtime is always tough, and we had to kill some huge penalties – including a five-minute major – against the best powerplay team in the league.

“It’s difficult to take not getting two points, but there is still a long way to go.”

Sunday’s result means Wildcats now trail table topping Telford by four points, though Nell’s squad has a game in hand.

Peterborough are an additional four points behind Swindon, and they have two games in hand over the Shropshire club.

The 50-plus game season therefore appears to be heading for a thrilling finale. And Nell will be taking nothing for granted.

Ahead of next weekend’s visit of Milton Keynes, Nell added: “Milton Keynes were completely different when we last played them, and they will be a tough outfit to play against next weekend.

“We need to be ready and cannot afford to leave anything out there, I hope we pick up two points and it’d be nice if Peterborough can do us a favour against Telford.

“It’s a three-horse race now, Peterborough are right in it after this weekend.”