AFTER being summoned from his sick bed to reinforce the substitutes’ bench at Colchester in midweek, Alan McCormack is back to full health and ready to face Hartlepool at the County Ground tomorrow.

McCormack was laid low by a virus which has been sweeping through the Town squad of late, the symptoms of which kept him all throughout Monday night - hardly the ideal preparation for an important League One trip to Essex.

Having originally been sent home by the Robins’ medical staff when he pitched up to training on Tuesday morning, the Swindon skipper was later dragged to the Weston Homes Community Stadium to increase manager Paolo Di Canio’s options in reserve.

In the end he came on as an 83rd-minute replacement for Adam Rooney, drugged up on Lemsip and paracetamol, and having made a full recovery he is looking forward to a return to the County Ground.

“I’m not one for getting ill and I’ve been pretty lucky in my life in that I don’t really get sick.

“I can probably count on one hand the amount of times I’ve been ill,” he said.

“Late Monday night it just appeared out of nowhere, it sprung up on me and I felt quite sicky and shaky.

“I got into bed early and ended up spending the night upstairs in the spare bedroom close to the toilet and shivering. I didn’t get much sleep.

“Tuesday morning I came in but the staff sent me straight home, which was probably the right thing to do. I went home and got a few hours sleep and I got a phone call to say ‘could you travel down to help make up the numbers’, which I had no problem.

“I was more worried with the lads getting it.

“I think I caught it off the lads when they had it so I didn’t want to spread it around the team. I spent as little time as I could with the lads, I didn’t even do the warm-up.

“The gaffer made me stay in the dressing room to keep warm and keep as much energy in me just in case something went wrong and I had to play.

“He actually said to me just before half-time ‘can you give me 40 minutes’ and I thought ‘oh god, I’m not sure’.

“But I had a couple of Lemsips in me, a couple of paracetamols, quite a lot of caffeine, Red Bulls and that so I felt pretty fine. I think adrenaline gets you through the games.

“I’m back to normal now, I started feeling a lot better on the way back on the bus on Tuesday night and then on Wednesday I was a lot better.

“I’ve been getting my appetite back and food back in me, you lose a lot of weight when you’re ill and I’ve lost quite a little bit so I’m looking to get that back on board and eating properly again.”

Miles Storey is back in training after a hamstring injury and could be included in Di Canio’s matchday squad tomorrow, but Joe Devera is expected to miss out.

Troy Archibald-Henville remains sidelined as he recovers from a knee operation but Aaron Oakley is available to the Swindon manager after missing the Colchester clash due to international commitments with Wales Under 21s.