SWINDON Wildcats head coach Aaron Nell wants his team to begin a consistent run of victories against The Raiders on Saturday night as the Link Centre outfit builds towards the play-offs.
While the NIHL’s regular-season title appears to be beyond Swindon due to their 17-point deficit to Leeds Knights, Nell knows momentum and form can be harnessed in order to make a run at the play-off crown.
Around three months of action remains for the Wildcats, and following a tricky first half of the season, Nell wants to see his squad form a steadier run of results so they arrive into April’s end-of-season show as the team to beat.
Previewing the Cats’ only fixture this weekend, Nell said: “I’m expecting a very tough game. They’re a team behind us in the table, and they’re looking up at us like we’re looking up at Sheffield trying to catch them.
“The games against them have been good so far. We’ve been fortunate enough to beat them three times, but they’re going to want to turn that around and get a big win against us.
“We’re building now towards the play-offs. Over the last four or five years, we’ve never been able to do that.
“As a team, we know how we need to play to be successful, and it’s about doing that more consistently now.
“We’re doing a lot of things right at the moment, but it’s just not consistent enough. Once we find that, I believe we’re a really tough team to play against.”
On a personal note, Nell now stands alone as the Wildcats’ all-time leading points scorer after registering his 1,046th midway through a 3-2 defeat to local rivals Bristol on New Year’s Day.
Reflecting on the latest achievement in a Swindon career which began in 2008, Nell was characteristically modest when asked about it.
He said: “It looks very cool, it’s nice. I knew it was coming at some point but didn’t know it was that close until someone told me last week.
“Once you know it’s going to happen, it might sound bad, but it’s nice to get it out of the way quickly.
“Daryl (Lipsey), who I overtook, was at the game that night, so it was good to see him after the game.
“It wasn’t something that I thought about too much, but it is a nice little feather in the cap for me.
“I’d have preferred it if I’d have done it after winning on Sunday in Bristol, but it wasn’t to be.”
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