Mobilx Vipers coach Rob Wilson was frustrated by Sunday's loss to the Hull Stingrays, but maintained his team are pushing to finish as high as possible in the Elite League standings ahead of the playoffs.

The Vipers went into Sunday's game buoyed by a 4-1 home win over Cardiff, while the Stingrays were on the wrong end of a 9-1 scoreline in Nottingham.

Five minutes from time Newcastle and Hull were tied at 3-3, on goals from Nathan Salem (his first Elite goal), Brent Hughes (first as a Viper) and Jerramie Domish (fifth of the season, all away from home).

However a tripping penalty on Matic Kralj led to a Hull powerplay goal before an empty net strike four seconds from time rounded off the scoring.

"It was disappointing tonight, particularly to lose it so late," said Wilson.

"We did a good job on Saturday closing out the game, and we should have done the same tonight when we were up 3-2.

"Then in the third we couldn't kill off the last penalty, and were left chasing the game which lead to the empty net.

"It was even more disappointing in terms of getting into a run ahead of post season.

"Saturday's win put us back in the race for fifth spot.  Now we lost, Edinburgh and Sheffield have won and the bottom half of the table is getting realy congested.

"I want us to finish as high up as possible.  We have beaten everyone else in the League this season, so any match-up shouldn't faze us.  At the same time, though, we have to be playing with confidence and getting consistent results.

"We are playing well at the moment, but there's still a little lack of confidence there so we aren't getting the results our play deserves.  That's how we are losing games late on as we did tonight and in Cardiff last week."

Wilson will now prepare his team for a home and away series with Edinburgh Capitals who are three points clear of the Vipers in fifth place.

Injury absentees David Longstaff and Mark Gouett could make a return to action at the weekend, and will be assessed in training this week.