Rosaire Longelo is recovering well from his injury and is close to a return to training for Swindon Town.

Having started the season as a fixture at left wing-back for Mark Kennedy, Longelo suffered an impact injury during a challenge in the 0-0 draw at Crewe Alexandra and has been out since, with Town trialling Jake Cain on the left in his absence before George Cox took over after proving his fitness.

Longelo was pronounced to be out for four weeks with his injury in early September having seen a specialist to get a further opinion.

 

 

Swindon had initially been nervous that he could be out for as long as six months with the injury but were able to assuage those fears after looking into the issue further.

Injury had disrupted much of his season last year for Accrington Stanley, not being able to feature for the Lancashire outfit after December having made a very strong start to the campaign at the Wham Stadium.

Kennedy was asked following the defeat against Exeter City in the Bristol Street Motors Trophy what had been the case with Longelo.

He said: “I think that it is really important to be honest on this and we have actually had really good news on Ros because at one point we thought he might be out for six months.

“He is looking at four weeks, that is really bad news, but in the scheme of things we are over the moon that it is only four weeks.”

Since this point, Cox has come into the side and eased the pressure on the injury to Longelo by proving his worth as an attacking force down the left and Town are also still looking at former Bolton Wanderers man Declan John after he has been on trial with the club for over a month.

But having received the initial good news on Longelo’s recovery, asked ahead of the 2-0 defeat against Carlisle United, Kennedy said that the 24-year-old had been progressing well and was set to be back with the squad soon.

He said: “I believe that he will be on the grass next week.

“We had really good news with him in terms of the length of his injury because Jackson’s [Bradley, First-Team Physiotherapist] initial concern meant that he feared the worst.

“He will be out on the grass, so his return is not imminent but it is not that far away.”