BASINGSTOKE Town striker Sam Smart is spending this week on trial at Championship side Sheffield Wednesday.

He is looking to follow in the footsteps of former Dragons Rob Atkinson and Aaron Jarvis and be transferred to a league club.

On Wednesday night, the lightning quick forward did his chances no harm at all in Yorkshire, as he scored the opening goal for Wednesday’s under-23 side in their 2-1 win over Hallam.

The striker then added an assist on the winning goal which was scored by Bulgarian youth international Preslav Borukov.

Town boss Jason Bristow is hoping his young gun does himself proud and said: “He is a very talented footballer and all of us at the club hope he does really well at Sheffield Wednesday.

“He is a very exciting prospect and he would the third player in two years who has moved onto a league club.

Bristow added: “This helps us when it comes to trying to get young players to join the club, as this is the proof we are here to develop players and they can follow in their footsteps.”

Smart could play again tomorrow against Leicester, while Town continue their pre-season game away at Burnham on Saturday and then on Tuesday (7.45pm) have their opening home game when National League Eastleigh are the visitors.

Basingstoke Town manager Jason Bristow is hoping that fans will be ready to watch some local football after England exploits in the World Cup.

The Town boss said: “We have to embrace what England have done and give fans entertaining football, so they want to come back and watch us.

"Eastleigh will be a tough game for us as I got to watch them when they beat Reading earlier in the season."

Town opened their pre-season on Tuesday night, with an magnificent 7-0 win at Wessex League outfit Alton Town.

Sam Argent scored the only goal of the first 45 minutes and then six more came after the break as George Bennett scored twice and there were single goals for Dan Collier, Harry Philby, Callum Bunting and Ethan Burden.

Bristow said: "The boys have been training hard and this was all about playing with a high tempo, which they did, as only Dan Bayliss played more than 45 minutes. I was pleased with the performance."