GOALKEEPER Lewis Ward believes Swindon Town can take a great deal of inspiration from its FA Cup exploits when the League Two campaign resumes on Tuesday night.

Swindon travel to Mansfield Town on Tuesday night just four days after the club’s FA Cup campaign came to a halt at the hands of Manchester City following a 4-1 defeat.

Ben Garner’s men held their own at times against Pep Guardiola’s Premier League champions, but goals from Bernardo Silva, Gabriel Jesus, Ilkay Gundogan, and Cole Palmer cancelled out Harry McKirdy’s second-half strike.

Regardless of the scoreline, Ward felt Town played some nice football when they could and did their reputation and confidence levels no harm whatsoever in front of the ITV cameras.

With just the league campaign to focus on now, Ward said the Swindon squad can throw all of its energy into achieving the key goal of promotion – a target that can be fuelled by Friday night’s display if they are ever in need of a little kick.

He said: “We can definitely take a lot of inspiration from that game. It’s a steppingstone for us.

“We’ve shown that, for spells, we can compete with the best. If we can prolong those spells for lengthier spells in the league, our goals are more than achievable.

“We’ll review this game, we’ll build on it and we’ll take what we’ve learned from tonight into the next league game. Hopefully, we can push on and start the second half of the season well.”

The Town stopper endured a mixed game at the County Ground, making several excellent saves – including from a Jesus penalty – but also choosing not to kick it long when simply clearing might have been more prudent.

Reflecting on what was an incredible evening for the club as whole, Ward admitted there were mixed emotions in the dressing room afterwards.

He said: “It’s tough – no one likes to lose, especially in the third round. You always dream of that fourth round and another big tie, maybe away.

“There was disappointment in the changing room, there was praise for a lot of the boys because a lot of the boys played well.

“Macca [McKirdy] got his goal which was excellent. You could tell from the reaction of the fans - unfortunately, we were 3-1 down at the time – but the place was bouncing.”