Ryan Delaney said that he is glad to be back and playing games regularly for Swindon Town after spending six months out with an injury.

Having missed a large portion of 2024 through injury, Delaney has started the last four games for Swindon across all competitions and played the full 90 minutes in the last two against Accrington Stanley and Morecambe.

The defender was unable to play any part for Swindon until September having arrived from Newport County with a long-term injury to his knee that had seen him out since February, missing the entirety of pre-season and much of the start of the campaign.

After making appearances against Exeter City and Barrow AFC in September, it took another month before Delaney’s next appearance in a 10-minute cameo at Cheltenham Town and he has only now been able to get fit enough for a run of games in the team.

He said: “It has been a long time out for me personally, so I am glad to be back playing games and I can start to find my rhythm in the game.

“So it is just looking forward to keep getting stronger and I am looking forward to playing the games ahead.

“[Going into Accrington] we just want to win the game, win the game and build the momentum.

“We have won the last two cup games and we just want to get into that mentality again, we had a tough game against Accrington last time, so we know what is coming and I am sure we will do a lot of work on that during the week.”

Ian Holloway said following the defeat against Morecambe that Swindon were still monitoring players' fitness, including Delaney, as a few members of the squad worked up to full capacity.

He said: “The fitness levels of where I want us to be are not there yet and I have got to put people through, Rosaire [Longelo] is not even being considered yet because he has been out so long.

“Ryan Delaney has been out for God knows how long, so he was running on empty at the end.

“We got Grant [Hall] back but he can only play 60 minutes, so it is a tough old day.

“Ollie Clarke should be back soon, who will be absolutely vital to us in my opinion, with his strength, mental strength, and his talking - but he is out at the moment.”