Swindon Town's Harry McKirdy could return from injury against Hartlepool United

Head coach Ben Garner suggested the 25-year-old 'had a chance' of returning over the Easter weekend but McKirdy sat out both the 4-1 victory away at Harrogate Town as well as the 2-1 defeat to 10-man Leyton Orient at the County Ground on Monday.

Prior to the Harrogate game, Garner confirmed his top scorer was close to making a comeback.

He said: “Harry has had a really good week ticking all the boxes step by step. The last one is a full sprint really.

“Once he can do that, and he has the confidence in doing it, he can come back into the squad."

However, Garner suggested in Saturday's pre-Leyton Orient press conference that the Hartlepool trip was a more realistic return-date for McKirdy.

Garner said: "We will see, he’s joining part of the training today (Saturday), so we’ll see how he reacts to that.

"We’ll do the same tomorrow (Sunday) and then make a decision.

"There’s a chance, but we’re certainly not going to take the risk, if he needs an extra few days to be right then we’ll do that. We’ll assess it over the next two days."

McKirdy has been missing for over a month now with a calf problem, but the 18-goal striker said in a recent social-media post that he is "back for the final push" now.

The striker's comeback cannot come a moment too soon as Town aim to overturn a four-point gap to the play-offs with just four games to do it.

Town currently sit in 11th and must rely on other results to go their way while winning as many games as possible if they are to feature in the post-season promotion tournament.

Following Swindon's away fixture against Hartlepool at the weekend, Garner's men take on League Two leaders Forest Green Rovers at the County Ground.

The final two games see Barrow - who are fighting for survival - arrive at SN1 under new manager Phil Brown before Town head to the Banks' Stadium on the final day of the season to take on already-safe Walsall.