HOLDING midfielder Martin Smith admits settling into life at Swindon Town has been easier than expected due to the rich history associated with the club.

Smith, 22, joined Town following a successful trial period with the club at the start of the summer, after being suggested as a possible new signing for manager Phil Brown by his assistant Neil McDonald.

Born in Sunderland, Smith’s career first blossomed in the Scottish Premiership with Kilmarnock before he starred for Coleraine in Northern Ireland last season, where he first caught the attention of McDonald – who at the time was managing in Ireland.

Making the move back to England has proved an easy task for Smith, who admitted building towards Town’s first League Two match of the season against Macclesfield on Saturday has been his main priority throughout their pre-season programme.

He said: “I’m loving it here. Swindon is a massive club with a massive fan base, and there are some great people at this club.

“The manager is building a great atmosphere, everyone is loving it. And we’re all on the same page.

“For me, I’ve got to keep working hard and keep improving to stay in the team.

“Quite a few of the players are at a good level, but only some of us have had two or three full sets of 90 minutes under our belt.

“We will be where we need to be by the time the Macclesfield game comes around.

“I personally feel fit and strong.”

Smith is one of several new midfielders to arrive at Town during the summer, with Jermaine McGlashan, Jak McCourt, Michael Doughty and Toumani Diagouraga also added to Brown’s squad during the off-season.

Aware that Brown has plenty of options available to his disposal, Smith is keen to continue improving on a personal level while making progress with team tactics on the training ground.

He said: “I think we’ve got a really good balance in the midfield now.

“I think we all compliment each other and we give good competition.

“We’ve got a lot of different types of midfielders in there and that’s exactly what the manager needs.

“We’re going to learn our game and come August 4, whoever gets selected will be ready to go.

“The last two weeks of pre-season is about looking at how we set-up and ways we can get better – that’s going forward and defensively.

“It’s now about building towards Macclesfield.”