SCOTT Cuthbert believes that Town should start preparing to deal with the pressure of being one of the favourites to gain promotion from League One next season.

The Swindon defender played the whole of the 90 minutes in Saturday’s play-off final, but the Robins’ Championship dream was shattered by Millwall at Wembley.

Despite the disappointment of finishing as beaten finalists, Cuthbert thinks that Town should be ready to make another pitch for promotion next season.

“I think we’ve proved a lot of people wrong,” said the Scotsman.

“I think a lot of people just thought that we were going to be midtable in League One but we went out and finished in the play-offs ahead of some very good teams and we’ve beaten some very good teams as well, home and away.

“We’ve proved our point but next year it’s up to us to be maybe classed as the favourites.

“We need to go out there and we need to show that we can handle that as well, and I’m more than confident in the players we’ve got and if we keep the players we’ve got then I’ve got no bother with that.”

Cuthbert has enjoyed a successful first season at the County Ground after his switch from Scottish giants Celtic in July, and the 22-year-old says that losing at Wembley was hard to take.

“It’s a horrible feeling to think that after all the games we’ve played all season, it comes down to that,” he said. “I think first half we didn’t show up and we allowed Millwall to bully us a bit.

“Maybe the occasion caught up with us but to be fair second half we came out and we gave it a go and they sat back.

“Charlie (Austin) was unlucky with his chance, I think it’s just bobbled up and that basically summed up our day.

“You can’t describe the feeling when the final whistle goes and you see them running off to celebrate with their fans – it was just horrible.”