JAN Melichar has praised the defensive effort in Wednesday’s shutout against Basingstoke, and believes Wildcats can follow that up with another impressive display against Guildford tomorrow.

Swindon turned the form book upside down by defeating Basingstoke 2-0 in Hampshire, the Bison having previously scored 13 goals in their opening three home games.

And D-man Melichar said every player in every position deserved credit for stopping the Herd in front of the net.

“It was a great team performance, especially defensively. The forwards were helping out and everyone was working as a team,” said the Czech.

“Basingstoke have got two great lines and they can definitely score goals, but we were great defensively.

“The forwards were helping out the D and that definitely makes the job a lot easier, and Skinnsy (netminder Dean Skinns) had a great game as well.

“They have got skilled, smart and experienced players but we didn’t give them a chance.”

Melichar’s hope is that more of the same will follow against the Flames tomorrow night at the Link Centre (5.45pm), an opposition who are hot on the heels of Basingstoke.

“We showed on Wednesday how we can play if we play for 60 minutes, that we can beat anyone,” said Melichar.

“Hopefully we will follow it up with the same performance on Saturday.

“It will be a similar game to Basingstoke, again they are a skilled and experienced team.

“If you give them a chance then they will punish you, but if we play for 60 minutes then we should get another good result.”

Meanwhile, Swindon general manager Steve Nell believes second-placed Guildford are set for a top-two finish in the EPL in 2012/13.

“They should be the favourites from what we’ve seen so far,” he said. “They will be in the top one or two.

“We’re at home on Saturday which should give us a bit of confidence.”

Several players were given the option to sit out training last night due to fatigue and injury issues.