SWINDON Wildcats coach Aaron Nell says this weekend is the perfect time for his side to start hitting their stride before the play-offs.

There are only seven weeks remaining in the English Premier League regular season programme and the Cats currently find themselves way down in seventh in the table, meaning they are likely to have a low seeding for the end-of-season shoot-out.

Swindon have the small challenge of facing second-placed Milton Keynes Lightning on Saturday night, although it is their only fixture this weekend as Sunday’s scheduled trip to Manchester Phoenix is off after they withdrew from the league earlier this week.

Although his troops were thumped 8-2 at home by leaders Telford Tigers last weekend, Nell has no reason to doubt that his troops cannot compete with the leading lights in the league.

The Cats coach is keen to send out a statement against Milton Keynes at the Link Centre tomorrow and begin a late charge up the table.

“We have to put last Saturday behind us. We will do a lot of work in the week – all of us, myself included – and we have got to be ready to play a big game,” said Nell.

“We have got a lot to make up for from last Saturday, to ourselves and to our supporters. We were really poor but Telford were really good as well. They showed why they are top of the league.

“It’s a great test for us now against Milton Keynes. We need to come out on Saturday and be a lot better than we were last weekend, and I think we can do that. We are a decent team. We just need to get some consistency now.

“There’s not long left until the play-offs start and we need to be getting on a roll now before the play-offs. We still have a fair few fixtures left, so we have got a good opportunity to do that and it starts on Saturday night.”

Swindon got in the perfect response to their Telford thumping by romping to an 11-3 success away at Manchester last Sunday, which proved to be Phoenix’s last fixture before folding.

Despite the emphatic nature of the scoreline up at Widnes, Nell is coy over just how big a lift the Cats can take from their most recent outing.

“Although I thought we played well and scored a lot of goals, it’s not one we can really take a massive amount of confidence from,” said Nell.

“Those games are really difficult. You just have to be professional, win the game, and make sure you don’t get any injuries – thankfully, we came through unscathed.”