SWINDON Wildcats chief Aaron Nell admits there is a good feeling around the club at the moment as his side prepare to face the Guildford Flames at the Link Centre.

The Cats go into the contest with the Flames on the back of a solid 3-1 home win over Basingstoke Bison on Tuesday, thanks to Tomasz Malasinski’s hat-trick.

But Nell was most pleased with how his side have stepped up to get their season back on track over recent weeks, following a run of poor results in the middle of December.

Since then, they have managed to win two of their last three games as they prepare for the last home fixture of 2016.

“We have got to look after ourselves and be ready for the weekend,” said the Wildcats player-coach.

“We have got a good feeling now and in the last two weeks, it’s been fun to come to the rink again and it’s the players that have turned it around, no one else.

“After that Telford game (December 10) we were in a bad spot and I thought we were really poor in that game and since then, everyone has improved.

"The way we played (against Basingstoke) , that’s the team I envisaged us having and if we can perform more like that, it’s going to be great for us.

“Ben Nethersell is 18 years old and on power-plays. He is playing in big situations and scoring goals and making great plays.

“People have really stepped up recently and it has been really good to see.”

Nell is ruled out for the rest of the season after dislocating his shoulder earlier in the campaign, but he is just one of the many injured.

Callum Buglass, Ollie Stone, Matt Selby and Toms Rutkis are all sidelined, but Nell will be encouraged with the return of teenager Kyle Smith.

The coach also believes Rutkis is edging closer to fitness after he picked up a knee injury at the beginning of October.

“I’ve got a board with my players and my injured players and it’s always one in, one out. Toms (Rutkis) is getting very close and the rest we don’t know about,” he added.

“Toms is probably two or three weeks away.”