Swindon Town's versatile defender Tariq Uwakwe has made a short-term loan switch to Maidenhead United in the National League.

Uwakwe looks set to go out and get some more first-team exposure as he has made the jump to the club currently second-bottom of the fifth tier in Maidenhead with manager Alan Devonshire hoping that he can contribute to an upturn in the club's fortunes.

Having joined Swindon last summer under Michael Flynn, Uwakwe sustained a series of injuries that kept him out after October last season and has not made an appearance for Town in any capacity since being on the bench against Newport County last year.

Mark Kennedy arrived this summer and said that Uwakwe was not going to be part of his plans moving forward, leading to another disrupted pre-season in which he did not play due to a mixture of this and illness.

The former Chelsea man has continued to train and keep fit but has been doing so away from Kennedy's first-team squad and will now head to Maidenhead hoping for a clean slate.

The 24-year-old will join up with former Swindon man Jayden Mitchell-Lawson with The Magpies and look to help out a side that has won one from nine so far this campaign.

Kennedy said of his situation earlier in the month: “That is a question for Jamie if I am being honest; all I can say to you is that I had a conversation with Tariq, who has been a model pro and a real pleasure to work with, about how difficult it would be to get into my plans.

“Nothing has changed about that and I am guessing that between him, his agent, and the club, we are looking to find a solution where he can get minutes but it will be elsewhere.

“Yes he is still training but no it is not with us. He is training every day with Swindon Town, just not with the first team.

“We have got a high volume of numbers, so unfortunately for Tariq, we don’t have space for him.

“We have got a duty of care and welfare to look after our players and that means giving the player a programme where he can stay fit and maximise his numbers every day.

“What we have done is made sure he is training with a large group of players every day where he can get that.”