THOMAS Butler could be out of action for two months, after breaking down on his return to action from a groin injury.

The Hartlepool United winger damaged a groin in the defeat to Southend on December 28 and suffered a recurrence just 25 minutes into his comeback.

Butler pulled up while in possession and was stretchered off the Liberty Stadium pitch on Saturday.

Now the winger could be missing until the last five weeks of the season.

"He has done very well to come back from the injury,'' said Scott. "He's done everything we have asked, but has broke down again.

"It's a massive disappointment for us and the player because he would have been a key player in the coming weeks.

"It's going to be longer than before - he has been out three weeks and now we could be looking at four to six, even eight weeks.''

Butler's departure came minutes after Pool conceded on Saturday.

But the double blow didn't affect the team and they enjoyed the better of the second half as Eifion Williams - Butler's replacement - levelled at the death.

Scott said: "Dimi knows he should have dealt with the situation for their goal better - he should have punched it and dealt with the consequences later. You cannot rely on hoping that the referee sees the incident.

"But there's no point feeling sorry for yourself and the players showed great character to bounce back.

"At half-time I told the players there was two ways we could go - do we feel sorry for ourselves or do we have a real good go at them and put Swansea on the back foot?

"We know on our day we are more than a match for any team in this division. It looked like it wasn't going to be our day, but we kept going and got the reward.

"It's a difficult place to come to and we responded well. The main thing was the character of the players and they showed they will work hard for me.''

He added: "It's a good point for us. People look at that result and say we will have stood up and been counted.

"We take a lot of confidence and belief from it. We need to build on it and get a good performance and good result next week against Blackpool.

"If I'm honest I thought we edged it first half and were the better team in the second half.

"We caused them problems and coped well with them. To go to Swansea and perform like we did, we deserved a point at least.

"It's a big stadium, an intimidating one, and the players deserve credit for their performance.''

* Goalkeeper Jim Provett didn't travel with the Pool squad on Friday after being struck down by a virus.

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