SWINDON Wildcats chief Aaron Nell hopes that the Link Centre can continue to be a safe haven for Elite League quality players following Ben Davies’ successful temporary spell with the club.

The Great Britain international signed a short-term deal to keep himself ticking over ahead of a trial in the United States – with Virginia’s Norfolk Admirals, who play in the ECHL, formerly known as the East Coast Hockey League – and played his final match for Cats last weekend, scoring twice against the Guildford Flames.

Davies, who has played for the Cardiff Devils and Braehead Clan while also featuring seven times for Swindon during the 2008-09 season, racked up six goals and four assists from his six Wildcats appearances this term.

Head coach Nell has no plans to go on a recruitment drive to replace Davies but wouldn’t be against the idea of more mutually beneficial short-term opportunities in the future.

“We’ve got plenty of players and, somebody will jump in to Ben’s spot – that was always going to happen,” said Nell.

“If someone becomes available, then we’ll look at our options but Ben’s gone now and we were very happy with his four weeks, and we wish him luck and I really hope he makes it.

“If it doesn’t go well, then we’ll obviously have that conversation but if that happens, then I’m sure there’ll be plenty of teams in the Elite League that will want him.

“We’ve got a lot of good young players that are champing at the bit to get more ice-time, and they’re going to get – they’re fighting for that spot that Ben’s left.”

The Wildcats handed their season a boost with a four-point weekend last time out, beating Telford Tigers at home on penalty shots before clinching a 7-4 victory at Guildford Flames.

This Saturday, Nell’s troops host bottom-of-the-table Bracknell Bees before making the trip to Blackpool to take Manchester Phoenix and the Cats boss has his fingers crossed that his team can handle being favourites.

He added: “We’ve got to push on because we’ve got Bracknell and Manchester, and it’s a different kind of pressure.

“They’re near the bottom of the table and we can’t waste (last) weekend by having a bad week.

“We’ve got to just work even harder now and just get four more points this weekend.”