SWINDON Wildcats' head coach Ryan Aldridge questioned the desire of his team as they slipped to two defeats at the weekend.

The Wildcats are rarely outplayed but often come off second best in physicality and the 50-50 puck battles.

This will certainly be frustrating Aldridge as his side continue their long search for consistency.

It was a trip to Hampshire on Saturday for Swindon to face a Basingstoke side that have started their campaign brightly.

The Cats were pegged on the back foot early as Aaron Connolly got his side off to the dream start, scoring inside the first two minutes.

Swindon edged their way back into the game and were rewarded early in the second frame when Tomasz Malasinski bagged himself a nice goal to tie the game at 1-1.

The game-winning strike came midway through the final stanza as Connolly grabbed his second of the game, this time sending net minder Stevie Lyle the wrong way.

Basingstoke managed to absorb some late Wildcat pressure to seal the two points. The WIltshire side were ultimately undone by some silly penalties throughout the contest.

On Sunday, the Milton Keynes Lightning travelled to Swindon to face the Cats and they notched the opening goal of the game through Stanislav Lascek from close range.

Swindon got a deserved equaliser late in the opening period of the contest as Malasinski fired a fierce slapshot which squeezed past the Lightning net minder on the powerplay.

The physical Lightning regained the lead when Czech forward Milan Kostourek scored a weak goal past the in-form Lyle.

Swindon lacked any sort of power going forward, and the visitors capitalised in the final period as Blaz Emersic scored after some nice build-up play to give his side a 3-1 win.

After a brief spell of good form, two straight losses has halted the Cats' momentum. Ultimately the big names are continuing to struggle and the physicality is non existent at times.

They will look to get back on terms this weekend as they travel to Sheffield on Saturday to take on the Steeldogs.