Injuries have hit 21 Swindon players this season, with up to nine potentially missing against Walsall this weekend amid an injury crisis.

Butler said keeping the available players together would be crucial to ending a five-game winless run.

Dan Butler has managed to keep himself fit since joining Swindon Town (Image: Clive Downing)

He said: “I don’t think that you can avoid [the topic of injuries], especially if you want to be a good teammate; then you want to ask the injured boys how they are doing and how close they are.

“It is a bit crazy the amount of injuries that we have had, but that is football, and I have been in changing rooms like this before, believe it or not.

“You just have to stick together, and there will be a time when most people are fit, and things will look a bit more positive.

“At the moment, it is just about the fit boys sticking together, and the injured boys trying to get back as soon as possible.”

The specialist left-back, who has started every game since joining Swindon, said that the way through an injury crisis was to work even harder to make sure that everyone was robust enough to deal with the rigours of League Two football.

He said: “No, [people are not worried about tackling in training]; it is the complete opposite, actually.

“That is how you build durability: training properly, training aggressively, and it being as close to a game as it can be.

“I think that as soon as you start worrying about training, then you are in a bad spot.

“It is just about working hard; believe it or not, injuries are sometimes caused by working too hard, but then the best way to fix them is by working hard.

“It is about finding a good balance; all of the fit boys are doing that, and now we just have to wait for the injured boys to get back.

“It is just about sticking together; if you are fit, then you need to make sure that you stay fit by doing extra things, sleeping well, eating right, working hard on the training pitch and off, and being a good teammate.

“You need to be there for the injured lads; it is not easy, so you want to make them feel as involved as you can, lean on them if you can.”