At the age of 18 he faced Leeds United's FWA Footballer of the Year Bobby Collins in a reserve match, and despite Collins going as far as to punch him in the face Smith managed to last the entire match without backing down in an extremely physical contest. However, for a period Waddington banned Smith from playing against first-team players in training as he feared Smith would injure one of his players. He made his first-team debut in the Football League against Arsenal in September 1968, and was given the task of man-marking Bobby Gould. He gave away a penalty after fouling Jon Sammels, which Terry Neill converted for the only goal of the match, but otherwise made a solid debut. However, in his second appearance he gave away two penalties in a 3–1 defeat away to Ipswich Town, and had to wait five months for another first-team appearance. In March 1969, Alan Bloor picked up a knock and Smith returned to the starting line-up in a 5–1 defeat to Leeds, failing in his task to man mark Mick Jones, who claimed a hat-trick. Despite the poor start to his senior career, he managed to finish the 1968–69 season with 14 First Division appearances to his name, and was occasionally used as an emergency striker. Smith established himself in the Stoke defence in 1969–70, forming a centre-back partnership with Alan Bloor in between full backs Jackie Marsh and Mike Pejic. Smith was the aggressive and highly physical defender, complemented by Bloor who tended to stay further back and use his intelligence to read the game and clean up any mistakes Smith made. Smith claimed his first goal for the club on 17 September 1969, in a 3–1 win over West Bromwich Albion (West Brom) at the Hawthorns. Stoke reached the semi-final of the FA Cup in 1970–71, and Smith played in the fourth round victory over Huddersfield Town despite suffering from a fractured ankle. He scored the only goal of the match in the fifth-round replay away to Ipswich. He also scored a "freak goal" from a deflected Peter Storey clearance in the semi-final against Arsenal on 27 March 1971, but Stoke lost the replay four days later. Stoke reached the FA Cup semi-final for a second successive season in 1971–72, again being knocked out by Arsenal in a replay. He had scored in the quarter-final victory over Manchester United