Swindon Town have taken Boston United defender Jai Rowe on trial with a view to signing the 22-year-old.

Rowe played for an hour as Swindon faced Melksham Town in pre-season on Tuesday night, initially playing the first half at centre-back before switching out to right wing-back in the second half.

Despite playing much of the match at centre-back for Swindon, he is more natural playing on the right and has proved to be a danger going forward in the National League North, scoring five times for Boston last season and also becoming known for his dangerous crossing.

The defender was said to be on Town’s radar earlier this summer, with Football Insider’s Pete O’Rourke saying that they were competing with Doncaster Rovers and Newport County for the signature of Boston’s Player of the Season.

The 22-year-old already has over 50 appearances in the EFL when he made his breakthrough with Scunthorpe United as a teenager, making his professional debut at The County Ground in 2020 and has since been with Aldershot Town before moving to Boston last summer.

Playing as part of former Swindon man Ian Culverhouse’s defence, Rowe was a key cog as they won promotion to the National League before being offered a contract to stay in Lincolnshire, although he has not signed it and has been assessing other options.

Starting pre-season at the PFA’s own training camps, Rowe has now begun training with Swindon and impressed manager Mark Kennedy at The Oakfield Stadium.

He said: “I am not a huge fan of trialists, to be honest, but we have had good players in and I thought Jai did really well tonight, I really liked him.

“I thought he acquitted himself really well tonight, it is unfair to discuss him without speaking to him and other people, but if good players are available, as much as I don’t particularly like trialists, then we will have a look.

“Sometimes they can help us and we can help them, an opportunity to get minutes, train, and show us if there is something to do.

“I would say to any trialist that is coming in, ring your agent and tell the whole world where you are playing on Saturday, so you have seven or eight options rather than just the one, but we would always feel that if we can get people in the door then we would have an opportunity to do something with that.”