DANNY Wilson will attempt to snap up a holding central midfielder in the emergency loan market, admitting Town’s squad is still too small.

Swindon brought in striker Vincent Pericard during the January transfer window, as well as extending the temporary deals of Simon Ferry and Danny Ward until the end of the season.

They missed out, however, on a trio of targets including Celtic right-back Paul Caddis and Portsmouth winger Matt Ritchie, but manager Wilson has vowed to go back for the same men on loan deals.

And he has admitted the third player on his shopping list was a defensive midfielder to act as cover for Jonathan Douglas, but knows that recruiting someone for a bit-part role will be tough.

“I want it bigger,” said Wilson, of his squad.

“That’s why I wanted to bring two or three in.

“There’s a couple of areas where we haven’t got cover - the right-hand side and central midfield is areas where we need it. I’m not happy as we still need that cover.

“A holding midfielder is what we are after. We have got midfield players who can do a job, like Craig (Easton) and Tims (Michael Timlin), but not the type of player that Dougie is.

“We’re having a look around and have identified a couple who could come in but you’ve got to be quite choosy.

“The clubs you are trying to get them from want their players to play, but you are offering them a place on the bench.

“The players want to come and play and you are offering them a ‘just in case’ role.

“Few and far between will come on those terms, unless you get somebody on a permanent basis, which is what we wanted.”

When Douglas was sent off in October and subsequently handed a four-game suspension, Town noticeably struggled without the Irishman’s influence in the middle of the park.

But Wilson insists he will not bring in replacements purely to make up numbers, and will continue to make “quality” acquisitions.

“We’ve said all along that we wouldn’t bring in people who won’t better the squad, and to be seen to be rushing in doesn’t send out good messages,” he said.

“I think what we’ve done so far is we’ve brought quality players into the club and everybody can see that.

“So if we start going down an avenue where we are not as comfortable ourselves with them (the players), then it would reflect in the team. We don’t want to do that. We want to keep the quality of the side up as much as we can, if not add to it.”