AARON Nell has laid down the gauntlet to his Swindon Wildcats to deliver a perfect weekend.

The Link Centre side have slipped to fifth in the NIHL South One table and are nine points behind leaders Peterborough Phantoms, who claimed a 5-4 victory in Swindon a fortnight ago.

And with the focus solely on the league this weekend, starting with a visit from sixth-placed London Raiders tonight before making the trip to bottom-of-the-table Cardiff Fire tomorrow, Nell says that there is no room for error.

“This is a huge weekend for us,” Nell said.

“We are behind in the league and we need to start catching up.

“We have put all the pressure on ourselves and we need to pick up wins – that starts tonight.

“We need to get two wins this weekend.”

Nell is also determined to ensure that his side do not suffer back-to-back home defeats with their last outing at the Link Centre being that defeat to Peterborough.

“You never want to lose two games in a row, and you absolutely don’t want to lose two in a row at home,” the player-coach said.

“It is going to be a big night for us and we need to put in a big performance.

“This is the first time that London Raiders have been to us in a long time and last time they hit the road (on November 4) they turned over Peterborough.

“We need to make sure that we are ready, we cannot take anyone lightly.”

Cats will go into the Raiders match on the back of 3-1 NIHL Cup success at Basingstoke Bison last Saturday.

And Nell wants his side start just as strong as they did last weekend tonight.

“In some game we have got the early goal but never really pushed on,” he said.

“Against Basingstoke we did that, we got the first goal and kicked on from there and that I something we have to continue to do.”

While Cardiff have yet to pick up a win in the league this term, Nell insists that his side cannot take them lightly.

“We have to approach the game in the right manner, secure the two points and play the right way,” the Cats chief added.

Nell also revealed that there is a small chance that Toms Rutkis could feature for the first time since the end of September when he was left requiring surgery to his jaw after picking up the injury during the Cats’ 4-1 NIHL Cup win at Telford Tigers.

“Toms is training again and we will have look at him after practice and make a decision from there,” Nell said.