SWINDON Town midfielder Tom Smith is keen to fight for his place in the side again once he overcomes his injury.

The 18-year-old relished making his full league debut last week alongside Anton Rodgers in the heart of the Swindon midfield against Rochdale at the County Ground.

The academy product was given his chance by Luke Williams, having impressed during his two starts in the Checkatrade Trophy this season.

And while the competition has had many vocal critics this season, with academy teams being introduced for the first time, Smith is pleased to have the competition as a chance for Town's young talent to show what they can do when given the opportunity.

“I have come in and done really well,” he told BBC Wiltshire.

“The gaffer is happy and (reading) the fans' comments, I couldn’t be happier.

“(The Checkatrade Trophy) are games where we can express ourselves and the manager can almost throw the younger people in to give them a chance to express themselves and impress.

“They have helped us and we have shown what we can do to carry that in to the league games.”

Despite impressing on debut in last week's 3-0 win over Rochdale, a game he played the full 90 minutes in, Smith is not getting carried away with his spell in the first team and knows he has plenty still to learn when he returns from his hip flexor tear.

“Anton and I played in a deeper role in the two and our role is just to sit and protect that back four and be very solid and defensive, and not concede goals because we need to win games,” he added.

“It happened a few times on Tuesday where I did go forward a few times but Anton helped me through the game a little bit and I got a few comments from Luke on the sidelines.

“It is great as a young player to get those comments and learn from them.”