SWINDON Town have been hit by a major defensive blow with Matt Preston expected to miss the remainder of the season because of injury.

Centre-back Preston suffered a knee problem in last weekend’s 1-0 win at home to Mansfield Town in League Two and missed the subsequent trip to Wycombe Wanderers on Tuesday night.

The 22-year-old went for a scan in the back-end of last week and did not return to the team for today’s 3-2 victory at home to Port Vale.

Post-match, Swindon manager David Flitcroft revealed the injury is a serious one and he believes it will rule Preston out for the remainder of the campaign.

“We had got bad news on Matt. He doesn’t need an operation but the injury has probably ended his season,” said Flitcroft.

“I am absolutely gutted because he was in really good form and it is just another loss that we have got to move on very quickly from. We will keep looking forward to an exciting future.”

Town have already had to do without fellow centre-back Dion Conroy since September after his season was ended with a knee injury of his own.

Another central defender, club captain Olly Lancashire, sat out for the second Saturday in succession today with an ankle issue.

Flitcroft hopes the club can cope with the problem without too much upheaval over the closing months of the campaign.

“Olly has had an injection so is now settling down. He will have to have the surgery in the summer, so we are trying to manage the injury,” said Flitcroft.

“At times Olly shouldn’t have been out there this season. He has given everything to the cause.”