Swindon Town's Dan Butterworth feels today is a “good time" to play his former club Carlisle United.

The Robins attacker will face the Blues only three weeks after leaving Brunton Park on transfer deadline day.

And Butterworth believes it may be the right time to catch United at a point when their new boss, Mike Williamson, has not had long to put his stamp on the Cumbrians.

“He [Williamson] has only just come in, so he won’t have [had] time to see the lads that much,” said Butterworth.

“I think it’ll take a week or two for them to settle in maybe.

“I think it’s a good time to play them.”

Butterworth has made four appearances for the Robins, scoring once, since he left Carlisle towards the end of Paul Simpson’s reign.

The 24-year-old says he still keeps in touch with a number of his former Blues team-mates.

But he also says he is enjoying life at Swindon and the coaching of new boss Mark Kennedy.

“It’ll be nice to see familiar faces from up there, but I’m just interested in winning and playing well again,” said Butterworth in a club interview.

“I still speak to quite a few of the lads on a regular basis, I’m sure I’ll be speaking to them but I don’t think anything will be said [about the game].”

Butterworth made 37 appearances for Carlisle, scoring four goals, having joined in the summer of 2023.

But he rarely held down a regular starting place and, after his departure, cited “things behind closed doors” as a reason why it did not work out for him at Brunton Park.

The ex-Blackburn Rovers man got his first Swindon goal in their 1-1 draw at Barrow earlier this month, and said he is enjoying working under ex-Lincoln City boss Kennedy at 18th-placed Swindon.

“I feel [in] my out of possession [work] he’s really helped me, coaching me, little chats 1v1 on where to be,” said Butterworth.

“In two weeks I can already feel it in my game, I’m getting a bit better at it, and who knows, in the future I could be even better at it.

“It was nice to top off my first start [last weekend with a 4-0 win over Newport County] and to win the way we did was a real positive. It gives us a lot of confidence.

“The lads know what we’re doing in and out of possession and in the structure of how we want to play.”