DOUG Sheppard felt his Bracknell Bees side did not get what they deserved against Hull Pirates on Sunday, writes Dave Wright.

Seeing his side trailing 4-3 with less than two minutes remaining, the head coach gambled by taking off netminder Danny Milton and going with an extra skater. Sadly for Bees, it failed to pay off and the Pirates added two late goals to secure a flattering 6-3 win.

"When you fight as hard as we did, it's disappointing to come away with nothing," he said.

"From an effort standpoint, I was really happy with what the guys did. We were right there to win it, but things just didn't go our way."

Sheppard was not helped by the fact half of his six regular defenders were missing through injury, leaving Ed Knaggs, Harvey Stead and Luke Jackson to fend off the Pirates.

"Those three guys did a fantastic job. I think Harvey and Ed had about three, four or five-minute shifts as they tried to keep us in the game. At one stage, we were down to just two (defencemen).

"Danny did a good job as well and the forwards also helped them out."

During the match, there was a time when Bees had five forwards on the ice together, which was a first in Sheppard's coaching career.

Milton replaced Adam Goss who was injured during the 8-2 defeat at Basingstoke on Saturday.

Their two losses last weekend led to Bees dropping to bottom-but-one in the league standings with Raiders, who beat MK Lightning 6-4, moving above them.

But Sheppard believes his side are still capable of climbing the table, saying: "We've got 18 games to go, five of them against Raiders. We will definitely be looking to get back to winning ways this weekend."

Bees face Raiders at Romford this Saturday before travelling to Hull for a return fixture on Sunday.