Swindon Wildcats forward Sam Bullas puts emphasis on consistency ahead of play-offs

As the Swindon Wildcats prepare for their play-off opener against the MK Lightning tonight (Wednesday), Sam Bullas is stressing the need for consistent performances from the Cats.

The Wildcats finished sixth in the regular season which granted them a spot in this campaign's play-offs, which consists of the top eight teams.

In a new format, those eight teams have been split into two groups of four, and the top two sides progress to the finals in Coventry after each club plays each other twice.

Bullas is a fan of the revamp, saying that more hockey can only be a good thing for Swindon.

"I think (the new play-off format) is good," he said.

"It gives the more consistent team a chance, it's no longer just two weekends of games then you're done so I like it and I think a few more games gives the boys even more momentum for the play-off finals."

Swindon travel to Milton Keynes tonight to play the Lightning (19:30 start) and, although the Lightning finished second in the scheduled season table, Bullas thinks the Wildcats stand a good chance of getting some points on the board at the earliest opportunity. 

"We can beat any team so it's not really an issue when it comes to beating teams, it's just being consistent," Bullas said.

"Everyone is excited for the play-offs, it's my favourite time of the year and I'm sure it's a lot of the players' favourite time of the year.

"Every game is full-intensity so that's why I love it, it's very intense and it's very high-pressure.

"It's about consistency. In the past we've had trouble of being in the lead of a game and conceding a few and losing momentum and just about playing for 60 minutes.

"There's a lot of games over the two-and-a-bit weeks so it's just about trying to keep everyone going, keeping everyone fit and being consistent throughout."

The other two teams in Swindon's group are the Hull Pirates and the Basingstoke Bisons.

"Every team in that group is a difficult team to play and you need to be able to beat everybody to win a cup.

"Milton Keynes have proved they're a very good team this year but we've proved we can match them in games as well so we deserve a place in the play-offs and hopefully we can go on to win it.

"They're very well drilled and they're very well coached, they come at you hard and they like to apply constant pressure so, obviously, that's difficult for the defence but we've got some fantastic goal scorers so I think that's why we match (with them) well."