Swansea's Joe Allen has adapted well to life in the championship but believes Ferrie Bodde's boots have been hard to fill.

The Carmarthen born midfielder has come a long way since making his début against Blackpool a few seasons back and even the 18 year old is loving his time in the limelight as he told the SWEP he said “Things have been going well for me in the last few weeks.I have been hoping to get a run in the team and looking forward to it.I am loving being involved at the moment and I'm just hoping now that I can keep things going and get a few more games under my belt.

Making his championship bow this season Allen could have found the transition difficult but over the course of the last handful of games the highly rated midfielder has settled,” It was difficult adapting to the Championship when I first came in, but I feel now that I'm starting to settle."

Replacing Ferrie Bodde in the heart of a well oiled Swansea midfield was always going to be difficult but the Welsh U-21 international believes he still has a long way to live up to the Dutchman exploits , he said “I've still got a long way to get up to Ferrie's standard, but that's something I've worked on," he reveals. Everyone knows what a massive loss Ferrie is. They were big boots to fill and there are a lot of people competing for the spot. I wouldn't like to say those boots have been filled, but I'm trying to make the best of the opportunity that has come my way."

Gearing up for tomorrow's game against Reading , Allen has fond memories of last seasons Carling Cup fixture against the Madejski Stadium club. After a mammoth effort by Swansea the club eventually lost the game thanks to a extra time strike by Leroy Lita. However the midfielder is looking for a very different result come kick off he added “I have got fond memories of that game, although it was disappointing that we ended up losing 1-0," Allen says.I'm hoping for a similar performance this weekend, but a better result."

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