Nine-in-a-row Simon Ferry loving Swindon life

by Joe McHugh Loan Celt Simon Ferry is loving every minute of life at Swindon Town as he catches up on three injury hit seasons.

The energetic midfielder has no interest in squad rotation or being used sparingly as he clocks up the games to get his career back on track.

Ferry signed a new two year contract with Celtic before moving on-loan to Swindon with both clubs about to seal the formalities to extend the loan deal through to the end of the season with Ferry hoping to help Swindon's Scot's colony to promotion into the Championship.

He said: “I'm loving the chance to play every week, coming to Swindon has been a great move for me.

“Swindon are a good team, we're playing well and I can't ask for any more. I've not been injured once since I came down and that stuff is all in the past.

“I've played every minute of the last nine games and can't get enough matches, two games a week, playing Saturday and Tuesday suits me perfectly.

“We're in the middle of a spell of five games in 14 days which is mad but I'd rather have that than training every day.

“I've missed a lot of my career and want to get involved in as many games as possible.

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“I came down here to play in games, now that I'm playing regularly I don't ever want to go back to not playing again.”

He added: “Since day one I've enjoyed it and felt at home with Swindon. The manager and players have been great, I'm enjoying the teams that we're playing against and visiting good stadiums.

“There's been nothing that I haven't enjoyed, the move was exactly what I was needing.

“Before I moved all that I knew about Swindon was that they had spend one season in the Premiership. As soon as the move was mentioned I spoke to Scotty (Cuthbert) and he couldn't speak highly enough about the club so there was no hesitation about coming down.”

Manager Danny Wilson clearly rates Scottish players with Ferry joining summer signing Cuthbert with former Celt Jon-Paul McGovern, Craig Easton and Gordon Greer also at the Wiltshire club.

A win tonight away to struggling Stockport would put Swindon into the play-off places with Ferry looking for success rather than just game time from his loan deal.

The midfielder was an integral part of the Celtic's 2006 double winning youth side and scored the goal that won the last ever reserve title at Ibrox last season (see picture above) to clinch the eighth title in a row for the reserve side.

The 21-year-old from Dundee loves the cut and thrust of scrapping in the centre of the park and has his sights set on helping Swindon into the Championship.

PLAY-OFFS
He added: “We're definately looking to get into the play-offs, last week we beat Huddesfield 2-1 and they were in third place so there's no reason why we can't get into the play-off's or go even further.

“Our game against Leeds was postponed due to international commitments but that's been rearranged for January and is one to look forward to.

“Before that we're at Fulham in the FA Cup and that's going to be a great day for the club.

“In the last round we had a tough game at Wrexham, getting through that was great then we got the prize of being away to a Premiership side in the next round.

“We've had two very hard games against non-league sides to get this far but now we'll be the underdogs at Fulham.

“There'll be nothing to lose for us at Fulham, we'll go there and play some good football and see what happens.”

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Managers Sutton and Lambert on the winning way

With the weekend spotlight on international football two of the Seville Bhoys were working away at the gritty end of the game steering their sides to away victories.

Paul Lambert and Chris Sutton helped Norwich and Lincoln to wins away from home at Carlisle and Macclesfield to keep up their impressive starts after taking over at their new clubs with the season underway.

Lambert will be expected to take Norwich back to the Championship after effectively ending the management career of Norwich legend Bryan Gunn with a 7-1 win on the opening day of the season at Carrow Road.

After a difficult start at Norwich Lambert has steered the club to three consecutive victories with yesterday's 1-0 win at Carlisle coming thanks to a first half goal from Wes Hoolahan who played under Lambert at Livingston.

Next Monday Lambert faces his biggest test of the season when he takes Norwich to face Leeds United.

Down a division Chris Sutton made it two wins out of two with a 1-0 win at Macclesfield which seems to have ruffled quite a few feathers in the home dug out.

Macclesfield manager Keith Alexander had previously managed Lincoln and had three former Lincoln players in his side and didn't mess about describing the penalty that defeated his side.

"It was a diabolical decision," Alexander said. "What was worse was that the free-kick given against Lee Bell on the halfway line that led to the goal was a nonsense."

Some straight talking there!

Sutton typically was keeping things low key saying: "I'm obviously happy with two wins but we've got to keep a lid on things. We are still a long way from where we want to be.

"But that said, since I've been here the boys have given me absolutely everything they've got."

Elsewhere Celtic connections were thin on the ground due to the international break.

Simon Ferry and Ben Hutchison were in the Swindon Town side that managed to draw 1-1 at home to Millwall, that's the sixth time in their last seven fixtures that Swindon have drawn 1-1. Scott Cuthbert scored the Swindon goal.

Cillian Sheridan played the full match for the Ireland u-21 side that drew 1-1 with Georgia on Friday night with Plymouth team-mate Alan Judge scorng the Irish goal. The Irish side also included Wigan's James McCarthy whilst Chris Hughton's son, Cian of Lincoln, made his international debut as a late substitute.