SWINDON Town are expecting to find out whether or not they will be able to bring Jack Stephens on loan to the County Ground in the next 48 hours.

The young defender came off the bench for Southampton in last night’s 1-0 friendly defeat to the Saints, for whom Jos Hooiveld scored the only goal, but negotiations are understood to have taken place overnight regarding the possibility of Stephens making a return to Wiltshire after his impressive spell with the Robins towards the end of last season.

With manager Mark Cooper keen to add reinforcements to a squad which featured four second-year scholars amongst its substitutes for the clash with Southampton, the club are hopeful that they will succeed in landing their man this week.

Meanwhile, Ben Gladwin missed the defeat to the Saints with a knee injury picked up in training. He is not expected to feature in either of Swindon’s two remaining friendlies this week – at Bedfont & Feltham on Thursday night and Bromley on Saturday afternoon.

However, Cooper moved to calm any fears that the former Marlow man’s knock is serious, saying: “It’s bone bruising. He got a whack in training and it’s not cleared up properly. He’s waiting until he’s pain-free.

“He tried to come back last week and he was still a little bit painful. He shouldn’t have played, really, but he was desperate to play. Hopefully he will be okay for the weekend.”