AARON Oakley says he is glad to be back on the pitch after playing 45 minutes for a Swindon Development Side at the new Saint George’s Park Football facility yesterday afternoon.
Although the mixed team of trialists and youth scholars tasted defeat at the hands of a Combined Forces team, the defender believes it was a worthwhile exercise.
“I enjoyed it,” he said. “It was good to get 45 minutes because I haven’t played in a while.
“I came in, looked at the facilities and thought ‘oh my God’ because I’ve never been here before. We went down and played on a lovely pitch. It’s a great place to play football.
“We had a team that had been thrown together a little bit. We had a few trialists and the Samsung Win A Pro Contract lads but I thought we did well. We put up a good fight against a strong physical team so it was a defeat but a good run-out.”
Speaking to the official website after the game, Oakley compared Tuesday’s run-out to his experience with the first team.
He said: “Obviously training with the first team is very intense. It’s sharp and you’ve got to be on your toes all the time and coming back here it’s the same. It’s sharp and even though the intensity isn’t as high, it’s a game at the end of the day and coming into a game you’ve got to keep that sharpness up.
"The two are similar but being in the first team you have a much higher tempo.”
