PERFORMANCE is paramount for Swindon Wildcats coach Aaron Nell as his team look to generate a groundswell of momentum ahead of the play-offs.

After a 3-2 triumph over Milton Keynes Lightning at the Link Centre on Wednesday night, Cats have four more regular season fixtures remaining before they get their teeth stuck into the play-offs.

Swindon are yet to discover who they’ll be locking horns with on March 26 and 27 for the right to make finals weekend at Coventry’s SkyDome Arena on April 2-3 but Nell is hoping that his troops are on track to enter the post-season in finer fettle than last term.

The Link Centre chief returned to action against MK – he set up one of Carlo Finucci’s hat-trick of goals – after picking up a nasty facial injury when he was struck in the face by the stick of Sheffield Steeldogs’ Stanislav Lascek on February 28.

Nell, whose team lost 6-4 to Peterborough Phantoms in the first round of the play-offs last season, was unable to ice in Cats’ 3-2 overtime win over Guildford Flames and spirited 5-4 loss at Peterborough last weekend.

But recent performances have left him with plenty to smile about and the Swindon coach is keen for his troops to ride the crest of that wave all the way to Coventry.

“That’s how we’re going to be successful and if we add pieces into that, we’re going to have a good end to the year,” said Nell.

“We’ve got four games left and you know what? We’re going to try and win every one.

“We might finish fifth or we might finish sixth but it’s about performances.

“Performances right now are most important; getting in a groove and getting momentum going for the play-offs.

“Last year, we didn’t have momentum going into the play-offs and two years ago we did (Cats lost a play-off semi-final 4-3 in overtime at the hands of Manchester Phoenix), so it’s so important to get that going and play like we did (on Sunday) every weekend.”

“People have stepped up and I’ve had some great performances from everyone, so it’s been very, very positive.”

Netminder Stevie Lyle has missed Cats’ last two outings through injury but Nell and Sam Bullas were back in the thick of it in midweek.

Defensive operators Matt Selby and Callum Buglass, who was checked from behind during Sunday’s loss at Peterborough, are expected to miss out again when Swindon renew hostilities with the Phantoms on Saturday.