DEFENDER Dion Conroy believes the team spirit at the Energy Check County Ground is better than last year as Swindon Town prepare to travel to Lincoln City.

Conroy suffered a serious knee injury last season, which cut his campaign short as he ended up going under the knife to rectify the problem.

While sat on the sidelines, Conroy also had a second operation for his shoulder after suffering a disclocation.

Since then, the former Chelsea man has played twice competitively for Town this season despite some slight concerns over his fitness, in their opening day 3-2 win over Macclesfield Town and 4-0 Checkatrade Trophy defeat to his former club's U21s, for which he was captain.

This year, the former Stamford Bridge man is one of the few to have been retained over the summer and he says the squad Phil Brown has assembled have already gelled.

“Everyone has settled down really well and to be fair I think the team spirit is even better than it was last year,” he said.

“A lot of the new boys have come in and just settled down, everyone gets on and we have a great spirit at the moment.

“Hopefully we can carry on that momentum of winning in the league and pushing the momentum forward, which will be helped with a win on Saturday.

“There are lots of personalities, everyone is different but everyone has a voice and we all get on.

“The person with the biggest character has got to be (goalkeeper) Lawrence Vigouroux but everyone has settled in really well.”

Conroy, who came through the youth system at Stamford Bridge before joining Swindon at the end of January last year, was not surprised by the ability of some of Tuesday’s opposition as Town were comprehensively undone by the Premier League side's youngsters.

However, the 23-year-old believes playing in that kind of fixture is a world apart from the rugged nature of playing in League Two.

“They (Chelsea) had a few really big players who I used to play with while I was there, I thought it was a really good test,” he added.

“It was used in a different way as well. They’re very good with the ball, it’s what they get taught and I was taught that when I was a little kid.

“We knew what to expect but they were just better on the day. When I was at Chelsea I played U23s football and everything was on the floor.

“The ball rarely went in the air unless you are hitting a 60-yard diagonal pass to someone’s feet but you do have to learn quick when you leave that.

“As a centre-half you get used to the rough side of it and you have to otherwise you know you won’t be playing.

“It’s a good learning curve if you can see that early on in your career it will help you.”