IT was an evening of mixed emotions for Paolo Di Canio at Cirencester Town this evening, as he expressed his delight with his team's display in their 4-0 win but bemoaned the loss of Etienne Esajas to a shoulder injury.

The Dutch winger was substituted after half-an-hour following a fall just outside his own area, which resulted in Esajas shoulder popping in and out of its socket.

The incident is almost certain to rule the former Sheffield Wednesday man out for the seasons opener against Crewe at the County Ground, with Di Canio claiming 'a fighter' could not make it back in time for the first League Two clash of the term.

“The shoulder went out and in and it is bad because he is a new signing,” he said.

“It happens when you play football and now we have to work in the right way to help him recover as best we can.

“We have the ability and quality to switch the players, but I feel sad for him.

“We will do everything for him because now he is part of our family.

“It will be painful for two weeks and you can't even be a fighter and come back before that two weeks.

“It may be more than that two weeks.”

Aside from the injury to Esajas, it was a positive night for the Robins.

Goals from Matt Ritchie, Mehdi Kerrouche and Alan Connell, and a Danny Greaves own goal, secured a comfortable win.

The result means Town now have an impressive aggregate of 24-0 against pre-season opponents thus far, but it was the way in which his players battled through a physically demanding opening 20 minutes that pleased Di Canio the most.

“We won and that's an important habit, I know,” he said.

“But what was important tonight was for the first time we saw how it can be difficult if we don't try to push hard like the opponents did in the first 20 minutes.

“We know that this is the kind of game we can have against a League Two side, and if we are capable of handling the situation the way we did – even after 20 minutes without good possession of the ball – we can become a very potent team.

“Today I was very happy with this.

“If we go through this situation in the league I feel more comfortable now because it is the first time we found a very high tempo, the opponents challenged us everywhere on the field, we didn't have a very good first 20 minutes but they did not even have one half-chance.”