SAM’S MADE A SMART CHOICE

THIS time last year, winger Sam Smart was turning out for Horndean in the Wessex Premier League. After an eye-catching performance at the V9 on Friday, the winger is hoping to start next season in the EFL. “You never know, do you?” says the 19-year-old. “I’ve already been pretty lucky. One of the scouts for V9, Lee Tucker, came to watch our opponents and I got two assists and a goal. If you perform every day, somebody will notice.” Smart, who turned his back on a US scholarship to play in the Wessex League, joined Basingstoke Town on trial last summer and was initially signed on non-contract terms. Five dazzling displays later he was handed a permanent deal and eventually finished the campaign with 20 goals and 30 assists. Recreating that form for the watching scouts was, he says, his sole target. “You can’t bond in five day, so you have to be selfish – do your own thing and not worry about the result or the team,” he adds. “There was a bit of nerves, a bit of excitement. But you’ve got to kind of block everything out. You get reminded every single day that hundreds of scouts are coming to watch. If you stop and think, it’s like ‘Wow, that’s amazing’. “But you’ve just got to pretend it’s a normal day because if you think about the scouts on the side, you’re not thinking about your game. “We had a psychologist in and most of it was just ‘Be confident, be yourself and play your natural game’. That’s what got you picked out in the first place, so if you aren’t doing it, what’s the point in being here? “Even if nobody picks you up, you’ve lost nothing. And with the level of coaches here, I’ve improved as a player, even if nothing comes of it.”