Wales striker Simon Church is confident ahead of Euro 2016

Wales striker Simon Church is relishing the challenge of playing at Euro 2016 having regained his confidence in the second part of the season.

The 27-year-old moved from MK Dons to Aberdeen on loan in the January transfer window.

His spell with the Dons got off to the perfect start when he netted in the 2-1 victory over Celtic at Pittodrie.

Church hit six goals in 13 matches for Aberdeen and he is looking to continue his good against Sweden this weekend and then into the showpiece in France.

"It was important for me to get out of where I was at MK Dons," Church said.

"It wasn't working, really, on a personal level, and the club wasn't doing as well as it should have.

"I felt like I needed a change - I needed to do something to kind of reignite myself - and Aberdeen was the perfect opportunity for me to do that. Luckily for me, it worked out really well.

"I have been in the Championship most of my career, and I didn't know what to expect up there.

"My first game was against Celtic, and I found myself enjoying the game a lot more and getting back to what I was used to - scoring goals and enjoying my football.

"Without being disrespectful to the league or anything, I don't think it is as technical up there, but it is still a very competitive league.

"A team like Aberdeen have shown that with a good team, a good manager and good backing from the fans, they can push hard.

"Now, it is a good chance for me to get my head down here, hopefully do well and then see what happens after that."

Wales start their Group B campaign begins against Slovakia in Bordeaux on Saturday week, and having ended a 58-year wait to reach a major tournament, manager Chis Coleman's squad have every intention of seizing the moment.

The first target for Wales is to finish in the top two in a group which also includes England and Russia.

"It's unreal to be a part of," Church said. "We had the build-up, and now we are here. We can't wait to get going.

"We've all been busy with our clubs, but you have always had one eye focusing on the tournament, so we wanted to finish the season well for our clubs and now the whole focus is towards a big summer for us.

"We set out at the beginning of the campaign to make sure that we qualified - this was our time to do it - and now we have got here, we want to maintain where we are, and we can only do that by winning games and continuing to do well.

"Obviously, there is going to be a lot of expectation on us, but we want that pressure - we deserve that pressure - to be pushing for success."