SWINDON Town are facing up to the prospect of a lengthy period without the services of Jamie Sendles-White after the defender was injured in this afternoon’s defeat to Bury.

After being left out of Town’s previous league clash – a 2-0 loss at rivals Oxford United – the 22-year-old collided with Bury’s Tom Pope 27 minutes into Saturday’s clash at the County Ground and went down in pain, signalling immediately to the Swindon bench to relay his agony.

The Northern Ireland U21 international, who clutched his knee as he writhed in pain, had to be stretchered off and head coach Luke Williams fears that his player may have picked up a significant injury.

“Initially, it looks like it could be a ligament problem, which would be significant enough to keep Jamie out of the squad for a number of weeks,” Williams told BBC Wiltshire.

Meanwhile, on-loan midfield ace Michael Doughty also missed today’s 2-1 loss to the Shakers following a ‘complication’ during surgery to cure appendicitis and, with his side playing host to Bristol Rovers next Tuesday night, Williams was unable to put a time-scale on how long Town will be without their current top-scorer.

He said: “Michael had appendicitis and a complication with his surgery as well, unfortunately, so will probably be sidelined for longer than he would be if it was a run-of-the-mill appendix operation.

“He was under anaesthetic for an hour longer than anticipated and at the moment, I believe the surgeon’s had to open him up rather than keyhole, so it takes a longer time for the body to heal from that.”