The 21-year-old started for the Magpies in their 3-0 Premier League Cup defeat at Southampton, playing just under an hour before being withdrawn.
Smith hadn't featured since his loan spell at Blackpool at the end of last season, while an ankle problem derailed a similar loan spell at Crewe Alexandra before it had really began this summer.
But now, having made his comeback, Smith is hopeful that the second half of his campaign will prove to be more memorable than the first.
"I think it was my first league game since May, so it's been a long time. It's good to be back," he told nufc.co.uk.
"Sometimes you think, because it's happened so often, that maybe it'll happen again, but I've worked hard on getting my ankle back to normal. For the first couple of touches you think you'll be a bit rusty, but I got a few good touches early on and just eased myself into the game.
"I wasn't even expecting to get 60 minutes - I thought I might have started on the bench and come on as a sub for the last ten or 15. But to get 60 is great, so I just want to keep building up my fitness from now on, get as fit as I can, play as many games as I can, and make up for the bit of the season that I've lost in the second half of the season."
Smith added: "After I made my first couple of runs I was thinking it was going to be a long 60 minutes! But I got through it.
"I don't think it was a 3-0 game, but sometimes it turns out like that. We just have to go again."I think Freddie only had one save to make when it was already 2-0, and the goals came from two set plays and a debatable penalty, but that happens."
Smith had been set to spend half of the 2016-17 season on loan at Crewe before an injury in pre-season saw him return St. James' Park.
And he hasn't ruled out making a similar move in January, as he bids to put an injury-ravaged few seasons firmly behind him.
"I just want to get as many minutes as I can without getting injured in between, and then see what happens in January," said Smith.
"Even just seeing the lads going out to train when you're sitting in the changing room is hard, and when there's a game of two-touch going on and you're just sitting there and you can't get involved, it is tough.
"There's been a lot of tough seasons, but this has probably been toughest one, with sorting out a good loan move (to Crewe) early on, getting down there, getting injured, coming back and getting injured again the first day after coming back, but hopefully that'll be the end of it now."
