Swindon Town only have a group of 17 players available to take on Accrington Stanley this weekend after a difficult week with injuries.
After being able to leave two players out of the matchday squad against Cheltenham Town as the health of the group was improving, the last week has been a difficult one for Swindon.
Ian Holloway revealed that a group of just 17 senior professionals had been training in the build-up for the home clash with Accrington.
Ryan Delaney has been struggling with a tight hamstring having only returned from having stitches removed from his knee two weeks before.
Joel McGregor has also been out of action as he has had muscular soreness causing him trouble as he was returning from an injury of his own in the last month.
Billy Kirkman has been more involved with the squad this week, although he has only been in full training for one week as he and Harrison Minturn only began running again in the last few weeks.
Holloway said: “We are very short this week, Ryan might be out as he has got an injury and Joel McGregor didn’t train yesterday, so he is likely to be out.
“That leaves us pretty short as we only had 17 training pros yesterday and I am including Botan [Ameen] in that and Billy.
“Billy has been out for a couple of months and had one week of full training, it is probably too early for him to be involved.
“We are bare bones a little bit, but we have still got a half-decent team and a half-decent bench.”
McGregor had been out between December and February with a groin problem and it is believed his current problem is a hangover from that.
Holloway said: “Joel has been feeling a little bit of fatigue as he has been out for a while and that is showing itself in one of his muscles.
“I don’t think that there is a big problem with it, you have just got to leave it.
“It is nothing too serious, you just have to leave it to make sure that you do not aggravate it.
“For that young man to not be on the grass for a couple of days, it must be pretty sore; I know my people by now and he would run through a brick wall, there is no point in risking him.”
