Luke Williams pays tribute to Michael Doughty and Darnell Furlong after ended loan

After Michael Doughty and Darnell Furlong had been recalled by parent club Queens Park Rangers Luke Williams was full of praise for the pair, noting it will be "very difficult to fill the void" left by their departure.

Total Sport reported back in December that Doughty and Furlong were due to return to Loftus Road and confirmation of the deal came through just before Swindon's 0-0 draw with Southend on Bank Holiday Monday. Both clubs confirmed the deal at 19:00 that evening.

Both players have been pivotal in keeping Swindon outside the relegation places, where they have been on the outskirts of all season, and Williams is well-aware how much of a loss the duo will be.

"It's a huge loss," he began.

"I think when you have players on loan you expect that there's a chance this will happen because of course their parent club are fighting in the Championship at the wrong end of the table and have probably seen the qualities and the desire and the effort made by these two lads and probably thinking: 'well maybe we can use that ourselves and turn our own fortunes around'.

"We are grateful to have had them, we thank them for their efforts, they have been incredible and we wish them well in the future."

Doughty had his second spell in Wiltshire plagued by an appendix problem that took over two months to recover from, something Williams found hard to deal with.

"(Doughty's appendicitis) has been very upsettting for us and for him of course more importantly.

"He desperately wants to play, he wants to be a part of everything and he wants to help us and of course he started the season being involved in every single goal.

"For a young man (24) in the prime of his life to be sidelined for eight weeks with something so frivolous.

"I am just so pleased that he is (now) healthy and playing well and hopefully now he'll have a chance to go and play at the next level."

Head coach Williams said he was aware of murmurings that Doughty and Furlong were set to leave the club.

"Always in football there are rumours and hush words and so on and so forth we try not to take things too drastically (instead we) take things with a pinch of salt.

"We have been hearing that this person spoke to this person (who) spoke to this person that said Doughty's going back and somebody else said he's staying forever and you don't know until the paperwork has come through and the request is made and then you have to react accordingly."

Finally, Williams was not short of high praise for his two departing stars.

"(Other members of the squad) are absolutely going to have to step up.

"To fill the void of Michael in particular it is fair to say in his second stint at the club, the amount of goals he's been involved in and the influence he's had it is going to be very difficult to fill the void and of course Darnell has been so efficient.

"He has always been there, he has never let us down, he's always there, he's always ready, he's always 100 per cent committed so again anybody replacing Darnell has to live up to that standard.

"Both of them have done everything that you would hope for, which isn't really guaranteed from a young professional to commit 100 per cent even though you're a loan player.

"They've given everything, they've treated the club as if it was their own, they've been incredibly professional, mixed well with everybody, got on with everybody, so whenever you bring loan players in you're always worried about potential pitfalls and neither of them have fallen into one."

Williams also said he had "no idea" if Swindon are due for compensation due to Doughty and Furlong having their loans terminated early, or if there is an amount, how much that figure is.