Swindon Town are hoping to bring in a midfielder on a loan deal this week to add to the squad ahead of the start of the League Two season.

Following a 1-0 defeat against Eastleigh in pre-season in which Joe McDonnell was not forced to make a save, many fans have bemoaned the lack of a creative presence in the side at present.

Having already made nine signings so far this summer, Jamie Russell is continuing to build this squad and they are supposedly close to making a tenth addition.

Speaking after the game, Marcus Bignot said that Town were hopeful of having a midfielder join the team on loan in the next few days now that clubs are becoming more amenable to letting players leave on a temporary basis.

He said: “[What did you make of the team’s chance creation?] Well, it wasn’t there today and everyone who came today will have seen that.

“We are not yet finished, it is an area that we have highlighted and it is not as if all of a sudden today we are thinking ‘Where has that come from?’ It has been a topic of conversation.

“You will see, hopefully this week, us addressing that question you asked and please God, fingers crossed we will get at least one player to help us in that area this week.

“In recruitment, you will always have players you are targeting and if player A doesn’t come off then you are looking at player B.

“We do believe that we have got someone who we have been monitoring for a long, long time who will certainly help us in that [creative] department. Hopefully, that will be done by the beginning of the week.

“It is hard to talk about players until they have signed, but hopefully you will see in that area a part of the jigsaw come in and we can get some business done either tomorrow or Tuesday.

“How it works generally is that your loans happen later in pre-season because their parent clubs need them for their numbers but now you are entering the point where your core group get 75 to 90 minutes.

“So, that market opens up now. We have done really well recruiting our own but we also have a loans list, which we will use, you have seen that with Miguel [Freckleton] and I believe that there will be another loan at the beginning of the week.”