SWINDON Town Ladies boss Steve Robertson doesn’t see any reason why his team should beat themselves up over their heavy cup defeat at the hands of Charlton yesterday.

Despite taking a 2-0 lead thanks to goals from Sarah Uzzell and Beth Thompson, Town were sent packing from the FA Women’s Premier League Cup by Southern Division Charlton, who roared back to run out 5-2 winners in London.

But Robertson is keen to focus on the positives and says that his players shouldn’t be downhearted by their loss to higher-level opposition.

“We might have lost 5-2 but we shouldn’t be thinking about that at all. I said to them before the game that it was a free shot against a side from the league above,” said the Swindon manager.

“They won their first league game 12-1 and they’re a very good side.

“We set ourselves up to counter-attack and actually went 2-0 up. When we went in 2-1 at half-time, we were really happy with that but in the end, their class shone through.

“We did pick up a few injuries and were like the walking wounded towards the end. That’s when they strolled a few goals in and made it look a bit more convincing but we know exactly what happened.

“We shouldn’t feel down about it because we want to get to their level in a few seasons’ time.

“This was the cup - we play Larkhall (Athletic) on Thursday in the league and that’s our bread and butter.”

Kelly Nightingale is an injury doubt for Thursday’s South West Division One trip to Larkhall.

Swindon kicked off their league campaign with a 5-1 victory over St Nicholas last month whilst Thursday’s Bath-based opponents are yet to play a competitive game.