Chippenham Tn 1 Swindon Tn 4

Maurice Malpas is confident that striker Simon Cox will be fit when Swindon open their league campaign against Tranmere in less than two weeks.

Town boss Malpas was forced to withdraw Cox from Saturday's pre-season friendly against Chippenham Town, after last season's top scorer broke a hand in training late last week.

Cox needed an operation on the injury, but Malpas is hoping the 21-year-old will resume training later this week after sitting out the 4-1 win at Hardenhuish Park.

He said: “Simon Cox injured his hand in training and had to have an operation on Friday.

“He should be back in training later this week and will be fine for the first game against Tranmere.”

Town trailed at the break after an eighth-minute opener from Sam Allison. But a second-half brace from Ben Joyce, a Billy Paynter strike and a Tom Godsell own goal completed a comfortable victory.

Malpas handed trialist Lilian Nalis a first start in the centre of midfield, and the former Plymouth man played for almost an hour before being replaced by Blair Sturrock.

“That was the first time Lilian has played in a while and, as he got better, we got better,” said Malpas.

“He will play against Cardiff on Tuesday and we will take it from there.

“Hopefully, the situation will come to a positive end and then we can look to bring some more players in as well.”

John Hills, another trialist, was handed a third outing and Malpas is set to inform the former Sheffield Wednesday defender today if he has done enough to warrant a permanent deal.

Swindon's Lee Peacock played for half an hour as he continued his comeback from a hamstring injury.