RYAN Aldridge admitted he could not be anything other than upbeat after Wildcats ran Guildford close at the Spectrum.

Swindon were ultimately sunk 3-1 but were in the game for the vast majority of the 60 minutes, with only a late goal from David Longstaff making sure of victory for the hosts.

And head coach Aldridge, now a regular fixture in the playing line-up, said it was a performance to be proud of against the championship hopefuls.

“To come in here and outshoot them like we did, we have to come away with the positives,” he said.

“Did we deserve to win? Yes, I think we did. Skinnsy (netminder Dean Skinns) played well and made some great saves and I thought we were good all the way from back to front.

“They scored first with a four-on-four, the second one was a powerplay and the last one was obviously empty net, so that shows the guys stuck to it and worked hard.

“I thought Bully’s shot was in for sure (Sam Bullas went close with Cats 2-1 down). He had a lot of traffic to get it through and managed to do that.

“Six inches either way and it would have been a goal, but that’s the way it is.”

Swindon turn their attentions to a home game against EPL leaders Basingstoke this evening (7.45pm), and Aldridge is confident his men will continue their good performances of late.

“We do well against those top teams so hopefully we will again on Wednesday night,” he said.

“I think guys just get up for games like that more, they are playing against better players and they are better games to play in.

“I think we’ve been playing well recently, the last six games we’ve been phenomenal.”