WINCHESTER City’s 2004 FA Vase-winning captain Danny Smith has made a welcome return to the club.

He and fellow new signing Stuart Mott are waiting in the wings to appear in Tuesday's (7.45pm) Southern Football League Challenge Cup second round tie at Salisbury.

Midfielder Smith, who went on to play for Eastleigh, Bognor Regis and Gosport Borough, oozes experience and the 34-year-old’s presence will offset the loss of injured skipper Jamie Brown.

Mott, meanwhile, is a combative central defender who skippered Alresford during their Wessex League hey-day under Tim Cole and Danny Robinson.

He stepped up to play Southern League football for Sholing and AFC Totton, parting company with the Stags in September last year when he joined The Army.

Those two new arrivals – plus the return of goalkeeper Brendan Norris – have capped a highly satisfying few days for the Citizens.

Having progressed in the FA Trophy at Fleet, City kept up the good work on Saturday with a well-deserved 2-0 victory at Swindon Supermarine in the Southern One South & West.

Between times, there was the small matter of Italian giants Inter Milan having two private training sessions at the Denplan City Ground, before and after their Europa League defeat at St Mary’s.

“It’s been a surreal week and I don’t quite know how we’re going to top it,” smiled manager Ian Saunders.

“A Trophy win, three league points, three top-drawer signings – and previous European champions training at our ground for two days! I watched in awe at how Inter went about their business.”

The Swindon Supermarine result kept City’s feel-good factor going thanks to goals from Craig Feeney and Stuart Green.

Delighted director of football Dave Malone labelled it “probably our best performance of the season so far,” and Saunders agreed: “I was over the moon with it.

“Swindon are a very good side who do everything with pace and play football the right way. They’re a club on the up with very good facilities, which makes the result even more pleasing.”

Green hit the post early on before combining well with Feeney, who tucked away the 39th-minute opener.

Feeney returned the compliment with seven minutes remaining as Swindon failed to deal with his initial shot, allowing Green to bury the loose ball.

“Craig Feeney's on top of his game at the moment and he’s scoring goals as well as causing defences all sorts of problems,” said Saunders. “He’s developed a good working relationship with Stu Green in particular.”

Saunders will rotate his squad for Tuesday's Salisbury trip. In line for a run-out is IK Hills, a quick, dynamic 16-year-old midfielder who recently had a fortnight’s trial with Portsmouth.

Salisbury limbered up for the game with a 5-1 South & West victory at Larkhall Athletic courtesy of Ollie Price (OG), Tommy Wright, Justin Bennett, Sam Roberts and George Colson.