THE Bespoke Guardians Swindon Wildcats head coach Aaron Nell has told his team they must be 'at the top of their game' in order to begin their play-off campaign in the right manner this weekend.

Swindon open up their group stage with a double header against Peterborough Phantoms before clashes with Sheffield Steeldogs and Basingstoke Bison.

The top two from each pool progress to finals weekend in Coventry, and a pair of wins against the Phantoms would go a long way to punching the Wildcats' ticket.

Previewing the opening weekend, Nell said: "Since the middle of January or so, I'd say Peterborough have been a top-two or top-three team in the league.

"They're a good team, and their rink is very tough to play in. They're very structured and well-coached.

"If you play at your best, you've always got a chance to beat any team in this league - that goes both ways.

"We need to make sure we get a few things right in terms of how we feel we can hurt them, but the main thing is we focus on ourselves and we make sure we play at the top of our game. If we do that, I'm confident we can get some wins."

With extra emphasis on the post-season fixtures, Nell believes substance over beauty is true but would still like to see his players execute their skills in order to ensure wins are easier to come by.

He said: "The biggest thing now is getting the results, but in the group we've got, you've got to have a good performance to win.

"That's how it will be over the next three weeks, so the home games are key. Saturday night will be a massive game for us, and then it's about being strong away from home.

"You don't have to be great to watch away from home, it's about playing the right way and playing together - if we do that then you can get out of the building with the right result."