SWINDON Town midfielder Yaser Kasim has suffered another injury setback which ruled him out of this afternoon’s development game with Southend United.

The Iraqi midfielder, who has endured a stop-start season with injuries and illness, trained with the squad yesterday but called in this morning complaining of a sore hip.

The 25-year-old was set to feature in Swindon’s development side against Southend United, a fixture they won 2-1, but despite being present at the Webbswood, he was only there to get the once over from the physio to assess the extent of the injury.

“It was very similar to Anton (Rodgers) last week,” explained Embleton. “He never made the warm-up, which is when Anton pulled up with a sore back.

“(Yaser) called into the physio this morning with a sore hip and the reason he was here was because the physio was here and he wanted to make sure he got treated.

“What it is yet, I will find out when we get back to the club this afternoon.

“He trained yesterday but it was sore enough to pull out of today.”

Meanwhile, it was slightly more positive news for Ben Gladwin, who was a late omission from Swindon’s 1-0 win over Millwall on Saturday.

The Queens Park Rangers loanee missed the game with a knee injury, sustained during the defeat to Chesterfield earlier this month, and with Gladwin possibly requiring surgery in the close season, it is something that Swindon will have to manage on a game-by-game basis.

“It’s an ongoing issue with Ben and being so late in the season, it is more going to be a management process of the injury rather than a cure,” said Embleton.

“I don’t know whether, longer term, he will have to have an operation but that won’t be something that happens immediately.

“It’s a case of managing that process with Ben. He has trained today and it will be about assessing with the physios tomorrow and Thursday, if there is any reaction from training.

“Hopefully today is a good sign for him and we’ll see if he wakes up tomorrow and it still feels as good as it did through training.

“It’s a positive step.”

Another absentee from Town’s game at the Webbswood was Chelsea loan striker Islam Feruz, who has not featured since playing 45 minutes in the development side’s win over Bournemouth at the beginning of February.

However, the striker has not been shipped back to his parent club and Embleton has not ruled out the chance of him featuring between now and the end of the season, when his loan deal expires.

“Islam is still around and if there is ever the opportunity for him to come back into selection, that is still an option for us,” he added.

“He has trained with the other group, if you like, this morning, the boys who haven’t played in the game today.

“It’s more of a selection process really. We felt that Jordan Stewart, we wanted to give him minutes, Jermaine Hylton, we wanted to give him minutes out on the pitch.

“Scott Twine is obviously coming through and it’s important for his development to give him that exposure to it.

“Islam is training and worked hard today. He is still very much part of what we’re doing at the club and he trains well and has got a good attitude and I’m sure he will give it everything to come back into the team.”