SWINDON Town manager Mark Cooper was happy to leave Petersfield Town injury free following a 3-2 win on a less than desirable pitch.

As is to be expected from a non-league ground the grass was a bit longer than Town’s players are used to and the ball did not run true over divots and bumps.

That led to a number of the seven trialists on show, who included goal scorers Jack Jebb and Fabian Robert, not to get the full run out Cooper had desired ahead of Tuesday night’s match against Aston Villa.

When asked by the local media what he had learnt from today’s game Cooper replied: “Not a lot.

“The main thing for us is that we have come through it without any injuries and that is about it really.

“We wanted to give them a bit longer today, but the pitch wasn’t fit and we didn’t want to risk any injuries.

“We tried to limit that and give everyone 45 minutes, but that will start to change with the game on Tuesday.

“We wanted to give four or five of them an hour, but like I said the pitch wasn’t the best.

“It is very difficult for them (the trialists) today, on that pitch, to produce any kind of quality.

“It was just a case for us of getting some more minutes on the pitch for them, and getting them up to speed, and that is all we can gain from today.”

While Town’s trip to Love Lane was not a romantic fairytale to write home about, in the first half especially, there were some nice passages of play from an outfit starting to resemble the makings of a League One starting XI.

A last minute strike from Jon Obika was enough to secure the first win in four pre-season games for Swindon Town, and prevent the trigger-happy pressing the panic button just yet.

“Last year we eventually ended up with some players. I am sure before the season starts we will have a couple more,” said Cooper when asked about how he felt the building process was going.

“We just want to make sure that the ones we bring in are the right quality.

“It is difficult when you are a trialist, it is a real brutal world, but they have to make a stake and one or two have done that.

“We didn’t want to lose another game, to make it four on the trot, and I am sure that certain media outlets would have been pressing the panic button.

“We want to win every game, and in pre-season it is not all about that, but when you go on the pitch you want to win.

“We look forward to Tuesday night on a brilliant pitch at the County Ground, with a good atmosphere against a Premier League side.”

Striker Michael Smith was notable in his absence, but Cooper reassured fans that he was merely recovering from blisters and should feature on Tuesday night, while Miles Storey looks set for another period out on loan.

“Michael Smith should be ok for Tuesday. He has got a lot of blisters from training,” added Cooper.

“I spoke before about Miles and he needs to go out and play and I had a chat with him.

“Everyone is fine and we have done well, not really picked up any big injuries, fingers crossed and that is part of pre-season.”