SWINDON Town defender Dion Conroy admits he has been left frustrated by a knee injury that has seen him sidelined in recent weeks.

The central defender missed the vast majority of last season with a cruciate ligament injury.

But after an operation and a full pre-season, the former Chelsea man was at the heart of Swindon’s defence for their first three fixtures before a knock he picked up against Lincoln City ruled him out.

The injuries have seen Conroy reduced to just nine appearances for the club over the past two league campaigns.

However, now fully fit, Conroy sees tonight’s clash with Plymouth Argyle in the Checkatrade Trophy as the perfect opportunity for him to muscle his way back into a starting berth.

“I’m looking forward to it. I thought I was going to be playing on Saturday, I was pushing for that but the manager wanted me to get more game time,” he said.

“It has been a frustrating six or seven weeks since Lincoln but it is part of the injury I had before, things like this happen.

“I feel physically good. I feel fit and strong so I am ready to perform.

“You can only do so much in training. You can look good, do everything right but if the team are putting in performances, you aren’t getting in.

“Obviously, you don’t want the team to lose, you have to have a little bit of luck on your side. You just have to be patient and being patient is very difficult, especially after being injured for a year.

“I started the first three games and then I had a bizarre knock but waiting an extra month isn’t too bad, I’m just looking forward to it.”

Due to the nature of the contest, and the lack of interest in it, there won’t be much of a crowd for the players to draw inspiration from at Home Park.

As a player, Conroy says the responsibility then rests on them to make sure they’re fully motivated for the game.

“The boys have to be together and almost create our own atmosphere,” he added.

“Everyone has to be up for it and we all need to be playing the ball nice and crisp.

“We need to do that from the get go. their could be 10 fans or 10,000 fans, it doesn’t matter because it is down to us.

“Everyone has had those games where there haven’t been many people in the crowd and there isn’t much riding on the game.

“It is part of the game so I am just looking forward to getting back out there and playing.

“Over the last few weeks I think we have been playing well, I think it is just that last little but to put the goals away. I’m pretty sure when we are able to do that we will be on a winning run.

“Defensively, things have got better and that is after the start of the season where there were a lot of new players.

“We have worked hard in training and now we just need to score goals and I am sure that will happen.”