Alfie Pavey is relishing the chance to test himself against League opposition after being released by Millwall in the summer.

The 22-year-old has been in great form for Dartford this season, scoring 12 goals in 15 games since joining the club in August.

Pavey, who had a loan spell at Princes Park last season, was given a wake-up call when the Lions let him go and is now rebuilding his football career in non-league.

He’s already put himself in the shop window and is now plotting a way through Swindon’s defence in the FA Cup first round.

Pavey said: “It’s a good opportunity for me to test myself against a League club.

“I only ever got five minutes on the pitch (for Millwall) and sometimes it’s hard coming on into a professional game like that. What can you do?

“But I feel like I could have worked a little bit harder. I used to go out, stupid things at times, where I probably ruined it for myself while I was a pro at Millwall.

“The reason I got let go is because I wasn’t good enough but maybe I could have helped that. Maybe I was better.

“All my mates are at Millwall and the day they all went back for pre-season was quite tough for me because I was still sitting in my bed.

“Watching all my pals go in, I’m not going to lie, it hurt. It took some time to get used to but where I came from non-league (Maidstone), I knew what to expect so I just had to start again.

“Now I’m totally focused on my football and I want to get back to being happy and scoring goals.”

Pavey started the season at Welling but was soon heading down the road to Princes Park.

He said: “Everyone at the club is legendary. I can’t describe it really, I just love it here. Everyone looks after me, everyone’s polite and it’s a really tight club which makes you feel comfortable.

“Everyone works hard. Even on our off-days, everyone still puts in 100%. It’s a great bunch of lads, a great backroom staff and everyone at the club is first class and I couldn’t ask for more at this moment in time.

“I’ve been looking for this for a while. All I wanted is to play, not ‘Alfie, you’re starting this week and next week you won’t start.’

“I just want to make sure I’m in the team every week.”