SWINDON Wildcats player-coach Aaron Nell believes the next four games will go a long way to deciding whether his side win a first regular season title since 2001.

The Link Centre outfit currently lead NIHL1 with 49 points from 32 games and are a handful of wins away from achieving something that seemed far from likely in December when they trailed Peterborough in the league having lost six of ten games throughout the month.

And having squandered two opportunities to retain their cups, the Wildcats’ hopes of lifting silverware this season rests solely on their quest for the league title.

Nell’s side have to play the four teams below them seven times in their remaining ten games and the Cats chief knows their season is dependant on coming out on top in those vital head to heads.

He said: “It’s a huge weekend coming up against two great teams. The next four games are going to be key to our season and we need to play like we did in the third period on Sunday and try and get two big wins.

“We’re just taking it a game at a time, we lead the league somehow, we’ve dragged ourselves back into it and now we need to focus on taking it one game at a time because we’ve got a lot of tough games coming up. There’s no point looking too far forward at this point.

“A four-point weekend would be massive at this point. We’ve had a lot of big weekends over the past month or so and this weekend is the biggest so far, so if we can come out with four points, it would be huge, and we’d be very happy.”

While Nell was part of the Coventry Blaze squad that claimed the 09/10 Elite League title, he has never claimed any similar honours during his 11-year stay in Swindon’s senior ranks.

The 29-year-old said this part of the season is more enjoyable as the prizes become closer, but Nell warned his side that despite Peterborough’s recent wobble, their league rivals are still no pushover.

He said: “I don’t think you get more nervous at this point in the season, I think you enjoy it more.

“It’s a lot better playing now when you’re playing for a league than when you’re playing in October when the end goal seems a long way away.

“Peterborough are well-structured and if you’re not at your best then they will beat you.

“They have had a bad patch recently, but they had a big win against Bracknell on Sunday and the games against Peterborough have been the toughest and best games so far this season.

"I expect Sunday to be the same.”