AARON Nell has identified three areas of Bracknell Bees’ game that his Swindon Wildcats roster must match or exceed at the weekend if they are to progress to the regional play-off final.

Bracknell, who defeated London Raiders 6-3 on aggregate in the play-off quarter finals at the weekend, host Nell’s side at the John Nike Leisure Centre on Saturday before both teams conclude the two-legged contest at the Link Centre on Sunday night (4.15pm).

A spot at the national finals in Coventry over the weekend of April 13-14 is up for grabs, and Nell has already stressed the importance of making up for last year’s absence after icing an ineligible player in the regional semi-final first leg against Peterborough Phantoms.

The 29-year-old has also called on his players to pay key attention to detail to their work rate, levels of aggression and ability to compete on the ice – three areas of the game he believes Bracknell excel at.

“Bracknell are aggressive, if you don’t match their work-rate or play as aggressive as they do then you only have luck on your side,” said Nell.

“What we’ve got to do is match their work rate, be aggressive and compete with them. If we do those three things then we have more of a chance of winning.

“It’s an exciting time – the players have looked after themselves throughout the week and we’ve done a lot of preparation in the week to try and secure two big wins.”

The Bees recorded three wins over Nell’s side throughout the regular season, and will undoubtedly prove a stiffer match for the Link Centre outfit following last weekend’s 24-5 aggregate win over Invicta.

The Berkshire club finished the regular season fourth in the NIHL South One table, losing 18 of their 42 fixtures.

Regardless of the comfortable nature of Cats’ two-legged win over Invicta, Nell was pleased to see his men remain focused on the job in front of them.

He added: “I couldn’t have asked the players to do much more (against Invicta) , it was a difficult weekend in different ways.

“We would’ve preferred to go through in a tougher way, like Bracknell. But now we need to make sure we reset and adopt a fresh mindset.

“Everyone knew we were going to win last weekend. This weekend is the opposite, it’s do or die.

“It’s going to be a lot different to last weekend, that’s for sure.

“Both us and them will be confident, Bracknell gave us our biggest test throughout the league campaign.

“The team that does the little things right and picks up the odd bit of luck here and there will go through.

“These are the weekends you want to be a part of as a hockey player, it will be proper play-off hockey.”