HAVING had to wait until the first day of March to open his goalscoring account for Swindon Town, Ryan Harley is hopeful he can bag a few more before the end of the campaign.

Harley, a summer signing from Brighton, smashed home a 48th-minute strike at Crewe Alexandra on Saturday. The midfielder finally opened his scoring account in a red shirt on the occasion of his 22nd appearance for Town.

It was the 29-year-old’s first competitive goal since he netted for the MK Dons at QPR in the FA Cup in January 2013 and, after the game, he told the Advertiser that he hoped he could follow it up with several more before the season is out.

“I generally do chip in with goals. I haven’t this season and should have had a few goals, hopefully now I’ll get a few more before the end of the season,” he said.

“Creating and scoring goals has generally been my game and I think, being one of the older players in the team, maybe I take some of that away because you’re working on things or playing slightly deeper. I still try to get forward.”

When asked whether he has found himself playing in a deeper role more regularly this season he said: “Fifty per cent of the time I have and the other times I’ve been playing further forward, I just haven’t been able to score. I enjoy any position, really, as long as I’m playing. I enjoy playing with the lads, they’re good young players.”

Harley has found a new lease of life over the course of the past week, following up his man-of-the-match performance against Crawley Town on Tuesday night with another accomplished display in the middle of the park at Gresty Road.

He said that a mid-season injury interruption did affect him earlier in the term.

“I was playing well early in the season before I hurt my knee,” he said. “It’s difficult not playing consistently, whether it’s because we’ve got so many good players or if you’ve been injured – you need to play and then you’ll see the benefits when you are playing week in, week out.”