BILLY Bodin will be looking to get one over on his home-town club when Bristol Rovers travel along the M4 to Wiltshire tomorrow.

The 24-year-old spent his entire youth career at the County Ground before being forced to go and find regular football elsewhere following the arrival of Paolo Di Canio.

Now Bodin, who still lives in the town, is hoping to recover from an illness in time to play against some old friends.

“It was the first game I looked for when the fixtures came out,” he told the Advertiser.

“I always wanted to come back and play. A couple of years ago I came back and played with Torquay in the cup but with Bristol Rovers being a local derby, it will be a lot tastier.

“It will be weird, probably for me more than anyone else because I was there for such a long time.

“I wanted to stay at the time but (Paolo) Di Canio said that I wouldn’t be getting first team football. I had already played about 25 times that season and thought I would have been a part of the first team.

“The fact he said that, I thought I might as well go away and play week-in-week-out and gain some experience.

“It was hard to get over the knee injury (in the 2014-15 season), I think I had a year out overall, and it was tough but I just had to keep working hard and thankfully I had a good season last year and I feel settled now.

“It will be a nice occasion and hopefully we can pick up the points.”

Bodin was involved in the side that fell a narrow 3-2 defeat at Chelsea on Tuesday night but is hoping it won’t have an impact on the team, who are looking to turn the atmosphere on Saturday in their favour early on.

“Usually people think it will have a bit of an impact but you don’t really know, it all comes down to what happens on the day,” added Bodin, who admits that he is afraid to ask dad Paul which side he will be supporting come kick-off.

“It was a great experience, playing against world class players and we were unlucky not to nick an equaliser at the end.

“Swindon are a passing side and try and play out from the back and can take risks, if we can pressurise them from the top, hopefully we can get a good start.

“I remember when I was a young, I think I was about 16 or 17, Rovers came to Swindon and it was probably one of the best atmospheres I had been involved in.

“We are bringing around 3,000 fans so I think the atmosphere will be good and if we can get an early goal it will be good for us and it is what we will be looking to do.”