SWINDON Town coach Ross Embleton has encouraged the club’s scholars to battle for their full-time contracts in the remaining months of the season.

Goalkeeper Will Henry, Jordan Young and Jake Evans were the last players to graduate from Town’s academy, with the trio putting pen to paper on their first professional deals last summer.

Evans has since been loaned out to Lee Power’s Irish side Waterford until June, while Henry, who has played back-up to Lawrence Vigouroux in the first team, and Young were in action yesterday as Swindon’s development side fell to a 2-1 defeat at home to their Exeter City counterparts.

Town’s U18 head coach Alan McLoughlin has spoken of his desire to see more of his prodigies given significant game time in development games and yesterday, Will Christopher, Louis Spalding, Tom Ouldridge and Scott Twine all started.

Embleton admits that getting the balance between youth and experience, with many first team regulars using the games as a chance to get match fit, is difficult but with 13 of Swindon’s squad out of contract in the summer and seven returning to their parent clubs, he is aware that the scholars have a pivotal couple of months ahead of them with the club having one eye on the future.

“You’d like to see more and more of the young players at this stage of the season, especially the second-year scholars,” he said.

“They have proved themselves in their youth team fixtures all season in front of Alan (McLoughlin) and Jeremy (Newton) but there will be more people watching them here (yesterday) and it gives them an opportunity to really show what they are capable of and earn themselves a contract.

“The more and more we can filter them into these games, between now and the end of the season, it can only be a positive.

“We’ve got to try and get that balance right to give them the best chance of performing.”

Notable by his absence at the Webbswood Stadium yesterday was striker Jermaine Hylton.

However, Embleton explained that the 23-year-old, who has not featured for the club since walking out at Northampton Town’s Sixfields Stadium on Valentine’s Day, had been feeling under the weather.

“He trained at the back end of last week and wasn’t involved in the squad at the weekend,” he added.

“He didn’t train again (on Monday) but we hoped he might have been well enough to have been on the bench and come on and got some minutes under his belt.

“He would say he would be frustrated, not being in and around training.

“You need to make sure that your fitness levels are up to scratch, which is why we play these games.”