CRAIG Easton is determined to get back to his good old self next season and help lead Town towards the right end of League One.

The midfielder started just 17 games during the 2008/09 campaign, with a combination of injuries and loss of form contributing to his extended spell on the sidelines.

Easton admits his lack of match time left him contemplating life away from the County Ground this summer, but with a one-year extension agreed earlier this month, the Scot is now fully focused on helping Swindon put a disappointing season firmly behind them.

“It’s great to know that I am staying at Swindon,” said the 30-year-old, who has just returned from a break in America’s Gulf Coast.

“I feel very settled at Swindon but at the same time I didn’t play as much as I wanted to last season, and because of that I didn’t even know if I was going to be offered anything.

“I was happy to have that dilemma in the end because you would rather have that offer and problem in your mind, rather than no offer and having to search for a new club.

“I want to play and hopefully I can do that next season. I’m sure that if I can have a good pre-season I can be a part of the manager’s thinking.

“I showed what I can do in the last few games of the season, so now it’s up to me to take that on into next year.”

Town boss Danny Wilson has started work on rebuilding last season’s relegation battlers, shipping out 13 players and bringing in two new faces so far - goalkeeper David Lucas and centre-back Gordon Greer.

A midfielder and a couple of full-backs are high on the manager’s shopping list, and Easton believes a new-look squad can only be a good thing.

“It was inevitable that the gaffer would change things,” he admitted.

“A new manager has their own ideas on the way the team is going to play and the players he wants.

“We are going to have some fresh faces and that will help the team.

“Hopefully this season will be a better than the last one in terms of where we finish.

“We were optimistic at the start of last season of a top half finish, but for whatever reason that didn’t happen.Hopefully this time we can put that right.”