SWINDON Town manager David Flitcroft has not ruled out the possibility of Scott Twine extending his stay at Chippenham Town.

The 18-year-old forward has been in fine form for the National League South side and the Bluebirds boss Mark Collier is keen to open talks about extending the youngster’s stay at Hardenhuish Park beyond the end of the year.

Twine has continued to train with Swindon on a day-to-day basis, as has midfielder Tom Smith, who saw his loan extended at Bath City until the end of December.

However, the Town chief admits he may look to see if there are clubs at the next level for the players to move on to and continue their development.

“It’s difficult to choose one club and that’s your choice because lots of clubs are out there and sometimes a player will play at a certain level and go through that level very quickly,” Flitcroft said.

“Then you want to keep testing them and getting them to as near this level as possible.

“The players will go where we know they will get looked after, like Tommy at Bath and Scott at Chippenham.

“There are good people at these football clubs and they are getting looked after.

“If they go through that level - we’ve got to look for other teams to see if they can do something with them.

“We’re keeping close tabs on them. They’ve gone to good people and it’s definitely improved their game time.

“There is an option to bring them back, but if it’s working there’s an option for them to stay there and keep progressing.”

During Twine’s and Smith’s loan spells, they have been ineligible to feature in Swindon’s Checkatrade Trophy campaign and that is something that the Town chief would like to see change.

“(Twine) has been able to play in all the behind closed doors games and train with us which is brilliant for us and Scott, to keep monitoring him,” Flitcroft added.

“I spoke to the EFL chairman Shaun Harvey this week with a view to looking at a way to make changes to the Checkatrade Trophy, so someone like Scott Twine could play, even though he’s at Chippenham.

“That would have been two games (Wycombe and Bristol Rovers) that he and Tom Smith could have played in.

“It would have been a fantastic experience for them, but they couldn’t play in that competition.”