AMINE Linganzi faces a further spell on the sidelines after suffering a setback in his recovery from a thigh injury as Swindon Town continue to carefully manage captain Olly Lancashire's fitness.

Two-times capped Congolese international midfielder Linganzi was thought to be closing on a return from the problem sustained in the New Year's Day win at Barnet after missing a handful of matches but did not feature in the midweek defeat at Wycombe or Saturday's County Ground success over Port Vale.

Plans to get him back in first-team contention have now had to be shelved for the time being as the 28-year-old faces another trip to a specialist over the issue.

Town's assistant boss Ben Futcher admitted today: "He's had a bit of a setback. He's got to go back and see the specialist so we're a bit worried on that.

"It's not ideal but the medical department are dealing with it and doing the best they can.

"It's disappointing he's not back at the minute but it's little setbacks and there is no real timeframe on it at the minute.''

With central defender Matt Preston ruled out for the season, the fitness of skipper Lancashire has been the focus of much attention with Town's resources at the back starting to look thin.

Lancashire trained with Town today ahead of Saturday's League Two trip to Chesterfield, but the monitoring of his ankle injury, for which he has already had injections is a continuing process, according to Futcher, who admitted sourcing cover from the free-agent market was not an easy task.

"Olly's had a couple of days rest on it. He's trained today (Thursday) so he'll be available for Saturday.

"He's got to get through training. He's had an injection and we'll have to see how it goes for the next two days.

"We hope he's going to be available but we'll have to wait and see.''

"It's not a great one for Matty (Preston). He's gutted and we are. He's going to have to work hard and have to come back fitter, stronger and go from there.

"It's very difficult because sometimes you are looking for a free agent who has maybe not played as much as you would want and they become potential injury problems.

"You are always looking but it's a very difficult market to do business in.''

Midfielder Kellan Gordon will return to Town's squad for Saturday's trip north after serving a three-match suspension for his red card in the defeat at Accrington earlier this month and Futcher admits the squad have benefited from the end of their recent Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday schedule.

"It's been really good for the lads. I think after (the) Port Vale (match) they were physically and mentally shattered,'' he added.

"It's been a really tough three or four weeks for them, but they've had a couple of days of downtime and it's straight back to preparing for Chesterfield.''