SWINDON Wildcats head coach Ryan Aldridge is hoping to have Ollie Betteridge back before the end of the season after the young forward received good news on his knee injury yesterday.

Betteridge, who fractured his knee following a heavy hit from Lewis Turner at Bracknell Bees in January, got given the green light yesterday to have an operation.

The 19-year-old will have part of his knee cap removed and it is hoped that he will make a quick recovery after the surgery.

Aldridge has admitted that his return could be vital for the play-offs at the end of the month but he will not rush him back with a full summer to recover probably better for the young Brit.

“Ollie has had some good news today, it looks like he is going to have the operation on his knee,” said Aldridge. “Hopefully he will make a speedy recovery now, depending on when the operation gets done, but that is looking pretty close now.

“I think the end of this season is a push because he is going to have a long time to get back into game shape.

“It would be massive for us (to get him back for the play-offs).

“The way he plays is with energy anyway, and to have him back hungry he is going to want to play hard and he will be a massive asset down the stretch if we can get him back.

“Even if he is not back until the start of next season that will give him the whole summer to rehabilitate his knee.”

Betteridge will be the only absentee for the Wildcats, who face another tough weekend on the road.

Swindon travel to Basingstoke Bison, who are looking to make it 10 home wins on the trot, on Saturday where victory will put them just a point behind their league rivals.

They then travel to Guildford Flames on Sunday where they will be looking for revenge after suffering a crushing 6-2 defeat just two weeks ago.

“After last weekend we are going to go into the weekend with confidence but it is a tough weekend, there is no doubt about that,” added Aldridge. “They are both very good teams and they are both tough buildings to play in.

“It is a tough ask but I think we are all confident that we can get something out of the weekend.

“If we play like we did in Peterborough we are in for a hell of a game.

“We’ll be after a bit of payback (against Guildford) and we’d like to get points in their building, there is no doubt about that.”