Wildcats boss Peter Russell issued a public apology to Swindon fans following his side's defeats against Sheffield and Guildford.

A stunned Russell watched Wildcats go down 5-1 at home to Sheffield on Saturday before conceding a late winner at Gulidford last night and admitted it was "back to the drawing board" for his side.

"I can't believe it, I can't put my finger on what has gone wrong," said Russell. "Why we are not performing at home I don't know and although the Guildford game was better than the night before it still wasn't great.

"I just feel sorry for the fans and I have to say sorry to them. I want to apologise to the fans because this is not good enough.

"I can only assure them that I will try to find a solution.

"Changes need to be made, something has to be done after those two performances.

"We have given away our home games in the first period of every home game.

"I can only apologise to the fans and assure them that this is actually a good team - and I want to see them giving our fans plenty to cheer.

"I don't understand it because we are a very good team and yet we are playing like a terrible side. We are not shooting enough and we are not scoring enough goals."

Having watched his side go down 5-1 against Sheffield at the Link Centre on Saturday night, Russell's Swindon outfit were in contention for the majority of the clash at Guildford.

Both sides had traded goals in the opening period - Jozef Kohut scoring for the home side and Shane Moore levelling for Cats.

Neither side could score in the second period and for 16 minutes of the third, that was until Guildford's Paul Dixon struck at 56.30 to clinch a late victory and a very disappointing weekend for the Wildcats.

The misery began on Saturday night when Sheffield Scimitars scored three times in the opening period through Robert Dowd, the outstanding Peter Slamiar and Oliver Barron.

With the tightest defence in the league the Scimitars were cruising from then on.

The second period was goalless though - Cats holding their own without really testing the Sheffield net.

The gloom deepened for Swindon as Stephen Wallace struck twice to give the visitors a five-goal lead, and it seemed that for the second consecutive game that Cats would fail to score.

British forwards Matty Davies, Lee Richardson and Robin Davison all played well but the biggest disappointment was Marek Hornak.

Hornak looked totally out of form, and his contribution was, at best, lightweight.

Recent acquisition Nathan Craze was at fault for three of the five goals, but as Russell pointed out: "He was left to hang out and dry, the support and the clearances he has the right to expect weren't there."

Davies provided some small consolation for the home support, deflecting a shot from the point by defenceman Michael Farn But it was too little too late.