SWINDON Town head coach Ben Garner says Anthony Grant’s omission from the squad against Bristol Rovers was simply down to maintaining consistency as opposed to the midfielder doing anything wrong.

Grant was one of five players to miss out as Town came back from a goal down to beat the Gas 3-1 at the Memorial Stadium on Saturday in Garner’s first trip back to his old club since being sacked in December 2020.

The 34-year-old featured in Town’s first six games but has not been seen since as a late international call-up for Jamaica saw Grant miss out due to a lengthy quarantine process and a stuttering training week once he returned to the fold.

But thought to be in contention against Rovers, Grant’s name was missed off the 18-man squad list as Garner preferred Ryan East instead.

Explaining the reasons for Grant’s temporary absence, Garner said: “He trained really well last week, and it was a tough decision not to bring him [against Bristol Rovers].

“It was more to do with the fact he’s now going away, so what I didn’t want to do was take someone out of the squad who’s done really well – Granty is in for one game and now he’s gone and he’s going to miss three, maybe four depending on what he’s got to do when he gets back.

“It was more a case of not taking someone out of the squad that deserves to be there rather than Granty not doing well.”