Harry McKirdy will not be available for Swindon Town’s trip to table-toppers Mansfield Town this weekend due to illness.

The man on loan from Hibernian made his first start during his second stint at the County Ground against Harrogate Town last weekend but was substituted at halftime as he continues his recovery to full fitness following heart surgery last summer.

McKirdy found the back of the net with a low drive from the edge of the penalty area in stoppage time off the bench against Gillingham to secure a late draw with his only strike so far during his loan spell.

However, he will not be in the squad as Swindon make the trip to the One Call Stadium this weekend as he has suffered an illness this week that will see him not fit enough to be involved.

He said: “Harry has been ill, so he won’t be involved at the weekend.

“He has had a chesty kind of thing, so I don’t know when he will be back and obviously we have got to look after him.

“He is a great lad and I am really proud of how he is doing, so he is one that we have got to manage very, very, very carefully.”

However, the 26-year-old will be the only fresh absentee when Swindon face Mansfield this weekend, with the rest of the squad having got through the week unscathed.

Gunning also offered further updates surrounding the season-ending injuries to Harrison Minturn and Pharrell Johnson and how those had been suffered.

He said: “Pharrell’s injury is one that he has come here with and it wasn’t seen, it is an underlying problem that he has had for a few years and he didn’t realise.

“He has come here and started training properly in men’s football. It was his ankle, so I don’t think we could do anything there

“Mino’s [Minturn’s] is probably one where he is a young lad and has played so many games and there has been a build-up, it was tough to manage, and then finally you play that game, he is playing right-back, he did brilliantly there, but you are shifting a bit more.

“We still don’t know how, but he has obviously made a movement too fast or shifted his body shape too quickly and he has pulled it [his thigh]. He will come back and be fine for pre-season.”