AARON Nell is imploring his Swindon Wildcats troops to play in honour of ‘coach’s dream’ Mark Smith after the import D-man was ruled out for the rest of the season.

The 33-year-old, who is the brother of Wildcats bench coach Kenton, was withdrawn midway through Swindon’s game at Telford Tigers on January 8 with a chest complaint – he hasn’t featured since – but it has since been revealed that he won’t be able to play again this term due to a neck injury.

Smith played 34 times for the Cats during the current campaign, scoring twice and racking up seven assists, and although head coach Nell is hoping to bring in a replacement for the former Cardiff Devils man, he doesn’t believe that his team will be able to replicate the Canadian’s influence on the ice.

“Mark’s had an injury that’s come up in his neck and he’s not going to be able to play for the rest of the season,” said the Link Centre chief.

“The injuries just keep on coming and Mark’s a huge, huge loss. The stuff he brings every night and every practice and every game is stuff that we’re not going to be able to replace.

“We’ve constantly had injuries and things happening, and this is just the cherry on the top.

“Mark will still be part of our team and I believe we’ve got to try to find some sort of positive from every negative that comes about, and we’ve got to play for Mark for the rest of the year.

“He’s a player that’s played for an awful long time and every night, you knew what you were getting from Mark – he was a coach’s dream.

“For him to be out of our line-up, it’s going to really hurt us and we’re going to look for a replacement but what Mark brings will never be replaced and it’s going to be a massive loss to our team on the ice.

“He’s still going to be around and he’s still going to be a part of everything but it’s just another injury that we’ve got to get around.

“We’ve got to play for Mark and rally around Mark, and hope he gets well soon.”

Smith joined the Wildcats in the summer after spending five of the last seven seasons in the Elite League with Cardiff.

He also featured for Edinburgh Capitals and Coventry Blaze, winning the play-offs in the 2014-15 season with the latter, and joins coach Nell, Callum Buglass and Matt Selby on the list of Swindon players sidelined for the remainder of the season.

Smith and his brother Kenton are also currently mourning the loss of their father, who died last weekend.