Matt Smith scored for Swindon Town on his League One debut on Saturday, helping them win their opening game of the season 3-1.

Making his senior competitive football league debut on Saturday, Matt Smith topped off a fine performance with a goal.

The on-loan Arsenal midfielder made his full debut earlier in the week, playing 90 minutes against West Brom u21s in the EFL Trophy. However, this was his first League One game for the club, up against Rochdale.

Swindon Town put in a dominant performance, particularly in the first half. They raced into a 3-0 lead before half-time, with Smith scoring the third.

The 19-year-old raced onto a pass by the Rochdale goalkeeper, gambling that he could get there ahead of the defender. He succeeded, winning the ball cleanly and passing into an empty net.

3-0 pic.twitter.com/V8q50D3Yd3

— IAN 🏴 (@jiff1967) September 12, 2020

Smith also made one key pass and a game-high six interceptions. In fact, no one in the league made more interceptions than Smith in the opening round of fixtures.

The Arsenal academy product is more commonly known for his assists. He led the u18s for his creative numbers in their title-winning season in 2018/19, before stepping up with similarly impressive performances in the u23s last campaign.

Now he’s trying to make the transition to senior football, and this is certainly a good start.

Fellow loanee Trae Coyle also scored this week, making his full debut for Gillingham.