SWINDON Town wing-back Bradley Barry has come a long way since being released by boyhood club Brighton and Hove Albion little over a year ago.

The 21-year-old joined last summer after impressing on trial and went on to make 38 appearances for the club as he made the right wing-back slot his own.

It was probably more games than even he was expecting and resulted in the former Brighton trainee signing a contract extension in July, alongside Ellis Iandolo, which will see the duo stay at the club until 2017.

“Coming here has been one of the best things to happen to me,” Barry told the local media.

“They have done everything for me. Obviously, being released by Brighton was a big thing in my life having been there for so long.

“But having this opportunity to prove myself means everything to me.”

Barry opened his goal tally for Town last weekend as his second-half strike was enough to sink Port Vale.

Now Swindon return to the County Ground to play host to local rivals Bristol Rovers and with two home wins and two clean sheets to go with them, Barry is keen to make SN1 a fortress this season.

“Obviously, the crowd get up and there are a lot more supporters,” he added, as he looked forward to just his second derby in a Town shirt.

“At the end of the day it is another game of football, we will go in with a winning habit, that is what we want and to come out with all three points.

“We want to be as strong as we can at home.

“Obviously, we want teams coming down here to be threatened by us, we want to be that solid team and we don’t want to concede.

“Away from home as well, we want to do exactly the same.”

Town have been boosted by the arrival of Nathan Delfouneso at the club, with the 25-year-old making his full debut last weekend.

Barry has already been impressed by what he has seen of the former England Under 21 international and is hoping that their only defeat of the opening stages of this campaign against Chesterfield was just a blip.

“He is fantastic,” he proclaimed about Delfouneso. “He has great hold up play, he is a big threat up top as well. He is quick and is a good finisher so he is what we want up front.

“It was a bad day at the office (at Chesterfield) and we just brushed it away and looked forward to the next game.

“When we played Gillingham, we were very, very strong. Even without a striker, we were still very attacking.”

Meanwhile, Jonathan Obika and Raphael Branco both returned to this week as they step their recovery from their respective groin injuries but are unlikely to feature this afternoon against Rovers.