SWINDON Town manager Richie Wellens said the club will not find out whether Rotherham United striker Jerry Yates returns to the County Ground until Wednesday morning at the earliest.

Yates, who scored 12 goals in 28 appearances for Town, was recalled by his parent club midway through last week as cover for Kyle Vassell and came on as a late substitute in the Millers’ 2-1 defeat to Peterborough United at the weekend.

Given that nearly 40 goals have been sucked out of the team in the space of the last two weeks, fans were beginning to grow concerned Town’s promotion push was about to stall.

However, given that Yates has now played for two different clubs this season, the chances of him making a temporary return down south have been significantly increased.

Wellens said he has not spoken to anyone at Rotherham since last week though and was not able to offer a definitive update on the future of Yates ahead of Town’s League Two clash with Colchester tonight.

Wellens said: “Jerry Yates will be involved with the Rotherham squad when they play Ipswich tonight, and we’ll wait for Paul Warne’s decision after that game.

“I haven’t spoken to Paul since Saturday because what I wouldn’t do is hound him.

“If he was ready to release Jerry, then Paul would have called me.

“The initial conversation that we had was that he’d be back for the Peterborough and the Ipswich game and then he’d make a call after that, so I’ve got to respect his decision.

“If he was prepared to let Jerry go for tonight’s game, he would have called me.

“He hasn’t, so I would imagine Jerry will be in the Rotherham squad and we’ll find out more on Wednesday.”

Meanwhile, Wellens said Town are close to bringing in two other players – neither is though to be Yates – whose deals should be completed on Wednesday.

Reluctant to mention names or positions for fear of word getting out and any potential deal being sabotaged, Wellens said he was perfectly relaxed about the prospect of still wanting three or four more players before Friday’s deadline.

He said: “I’m not getting twitchy about it actually.

“I think we’ll get a couple in on Wednesday. We’ve worked hard to get them this close, and supporters can ask what’s going on behind the scenes.

“Believe me, we’re working as hard as we possibly can to make a transfer happen.

“It’s not just a case of two people saying yes, you need a lot of people to say yes. But we’re close with a couple.”