Crawley are close to signing veteran Darren Ward on loan to ease a defensive crisis ahead of Saturday’s visit of MK Dons.

Ward has not featured for Swindon all season and has been told he is surplus to requirements at the County Ground.

Reds interim boss Dean Saunders is desperate to bring in some defensive reinforcements after being forced to play Lewis Young, Bobson Bawling and Marvin Elliott out of position in the back four against Colchester United in their last match.

Sonny Bradley is set to return from injury for the visit of free-scoring MK Dons while Lanre Oyebanjo is also in contention but Saunders is still keen to beef up his backline.

Ward, 36, started his career at Watford and went on to play for Millwall and Crystal Palace who signed him for £1.1 million nine years ago.

Swindon chairman Lee Power said: “We’ve had an offer from someone so we’ll forward that to Darren’s people and we’re hoping for some type of answer today.”

Meanwhile, Oldham owner Simon Corney has confirmed there is an “80%” chance of the club signing convicted rapist Ched Evans.