“WE need to be prepared to do all the little things to get a big win” – Swindon Wildcats head coach Aaron Nell is readying his players for their second-ever competitive derby fixture with Bristol Pitbulls on Friday night.

The Wildcats were beaten 7-3 by their west-country rivals earlier in the season but come into the latest game having won five on the spin, and Nell insists his squad is “completely different” to the one which faltered in mid-October.

Swindon can point to the pair of 5-3 victories they accumulated in pre-season as evidence they know how to beat Bristol, but the competitive meeting was a result which very few expected.

Assessing the Cats’ first opponents this weekend, Nell is aware the young Pitbulls side will be itching to make it two wins from two.

Nell said: “Bristol is a big rivalry for us. The last time we played them was our first competitive meeting, and they beat us pretty badly. We need to try and get them back for that.

“They were way better than us on the night, but we’re a far different team to the one back then and we need to show them how good we are.

“They work really hard, they’re young, they’re really fast, and they’ll be up for this game.

“There are a lot of ex-Swindon players playing for them, and they’ll really want to get one over us again – we need to make sure we’re prepared.”

After Bristol on Friday night, the Wildcats travel to Milton Keynes Lightning and Peterborough Phantoms – the third and second-place teams in the NIHL.

Far from fearing the pair, Nell says his in-form squad can go to the title chasers full of confidence off the back of five wins in a row – including one against league leaders Leeds Knights.

Nell said: “The team is competing really hard, they’re playing the right way, and not panicking when things don’t quite go right.

“It’s been a really positive couple of weeks for us, and we’re just looking forward now while trying to improve all the time.

“Even when we were struggling, we believed we had a good team. It was just a case of the players showing that on the ice.

“Over the past little while, we have shown our quality. It’s about taking things one game at a time, focusing on what we want to do, and trying to execute in this really tough weekend ahead.”