Town defender Tommy Smith played the first half of the New Zealand Olympic side’s 4-2 friendly defeat to the UAE in Austria on Thursday evening. The Blues centre-half missed the two previous warm-up games due to a minor hamstring problem.

The match was the Oly Whites’ last friendly before London 2012, where they take on Belarus at Coventry's Ricoh Arena on July 26th, Egypt at Old Trafford three days later and Brazil at St James' Park, Newcastle on August 1st.

Coach Neil Emblen says the squad are now focusing on their first match: “We have six days before the opening game, so we’ll have five full days of preparation and will really be able to get into preparing for specific scenarios, which we haven’t really had time to do yet.

“We were lacklustre today, to be fair, and weren’t at the races for periods of the match. We were not brave enough in possession and gave them too much respect off the ball. We didn’t get into them enough.

“But we created a lot of chances and it could’ve easily been 4-4 or 5-5, it was one of those games. At times it looked as though both teams were already thinking about next week and protecting themselves for their opening match."

Smith will be the first current Town player ever to play in the Olympics.

Photo: Action Images

Story syndicated from TWTD.co.uk

Photo: Action Images

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