WINDON Wildcats player-coach Aaron Nell admits losing captain Jan Kostal to injury is a big blow for the club.

The 37-year-old suffered an injury in their 8-3 win over Streatham on Saturday and Nell admits he doesn’t know the full extent of the problem.

Kostal will miss tonight’s match with London Raiders as well as the weekend’s clash with Basingstoke Bison and is set to have scans this week.

“He (Kostal) isn’t going to be playing this week. I don’t know how long he is going to be out for,” said Nell.

“He’s getting scans this week, so we will know more about it at the weekend.

“It’s always tough because it happened when the game was over. It was a bit of a freak accident. Hopefully he will be back soon but he will be out this week at least.

“Jan is one of our best players, he is one of our imports and our captain but we have lots of good players and people who can step up.

“Obviously we would love to have Jan playing, but he’s not so we all need to chip in that little bit more to replace him.”

Saturday’s win at the Link Centre was the only match of the weekend for the Wildcats, who hit the road this evening.

However, with a cluttered schedule over the next few weeks, Nell says it is make or break for his troops, who are competing for league honours, as well as two cup competitions.

The last time the Cats came up against the Raiders was back on January 14 in the National Cup, where Swindon collected a 6-2 victory. “It was nice to have a Sunday off and to be fair to the players, if we have a lot of games or we don’t, they are always ready to go and we will be ready for the game,” he added.

“The next three weeks are crucial, it really is make or break for us. We will know where we are at the end of the three weeks.

“We have a lot of games, but that is what you want as a player. You want to be chasing leagues and cup competitions, which is what we are doing.

“I think we have hit our stride at the right time. I think we have been good since Christmas and now it is about keeping it up.

“Every time we have had to play a lot of games in a short space of time we have done well, so we need to do that again over the next three weeks.

“If we do that, and I believe we can, then it is going to be an exciting time.

“It is always nice to play a lot of games, especially if you are being successful.” Apart from Kostal and long-term absentee Jordan Kelsall, Nell will have a full line-up to pick from this evening. After tonight’s game, Nell and his troops will turn their attention to Saturday’s league game with Basingstoke Bison at the Link Centre.