Swindon Town

APART from struggling with the odd blister, Michael Smith says that he is enjoying being back in training after the summer break.

The striker found the net in Town’s 2-1 defeat to Swindon Supermarine on Tuesday evening and also admits that he was pleased to get on the scoresheet so early on into the new campaign.

“It was obviously a disappointing end to the end of last season,” he told swindontownfc.co.uk “It was a short summer in the end but I’m buzzing to be back and to see all the boys. I struggle with blisters so that’s been the hardest thing for me so far but all the boys have come back in good shape.

“It’s always nice to get an early one (a goal) out of the way. It was an enjoyable 45 minutes (against Supermarine) - they gave us a really good game which is what you want in pre-season.”

Saturday sees Everton visit the County Ground for the first of Town’s home pre-season friendlies and the frontman says he is relishing the prospect of testing himself against top-flight opposition.

“We’ve got a tough fixture list over pre-season,” he continued. “We’re up against Premier League teams which is really good and Everton will be another good test.

“Playing against top teams you can see what you need to do to get to that next level. They have got some top players who have been there and done it so you can see how far away we are from the lads who are playing in the Premier League.”

Purchase tickets for Saturday's friendy either in-store or online by visitingwww.eticketing.co.uk/swindontown