Rooney happy with successful return (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

SWINDON TOWN: Rooney happy with successful return

6:00am Monday 25th February 2013 in Sport By Sam Morshead

ADAM Rooney is delighted to be scoring for Swindon Town once again after a long spell without an appearance.

Rooney didn’t feature for the Robins for three months between November 3 and February 2 but has come back with a bang of late, scoring two important goals in his last four matches.

A 75th-minute equaliser with his first touch against Preston on Saturday was the Irishman’s first home goal for Town since the 4-0 rout of Bournemouth in September and he felt vindicated in his decision to get his head down and stick it out despite a lack of opportunities at the County Ground.

“It’s always difficult when you’re not on the pitch but we were going through a spell where the team was doing very well as it is now.

“I just had to keep my head down and work hard, like you have to do throughout your career when you’re not involved,” he said.

“You can get down but the main thing is to keep working hard and hopefully get the reward.

“At the minute it’s going okay for me.

“It’s obviously frustrating.

“You train all week and you want to be out on the pitch with the lads giving your best on a Saturday.

“When you don’t get involved it’s always a bit disappointing but the main thing is to keep working hard and keep your head and don’t get down.

“It’s always good to get a goal in front of the home fans and give them a lift.

“The fans were brilliant today, they turned out in great numbers and supported all the lads and we’re very appreciative of that.

“One of the lads said I was coming on that I would score with my first touch because it was a free-kick, but it came a few seconds later.

“It was a good assist by their full-back.

“When you come on you just want to be involved as quickly as you can and get a good first touch, whether it’s a header or whatever – if you get a shot on target you can be happy.

“I’m happy it just went right and I managed to put it away.”