NEWPORT County AFC have admitted that star man Robbie Willmott could have played his last game for the club.

The 24-year-old has been a key performer for the Exiles for the past two years but has not featured since the defeat at Stevenage on March 7.

Club physio Adam Roche says that, while Willmott is progressing well, a thigh injury could rule him out for the remainder of the League Two campaign.

And, with the versatile player out of contract in the summer, he may not play again in an amber shirt unless Jimmy Dack’s men make the play-offs or he pens a new deal.

“He picked up a grade two strain on his muscle that runs across the top of the thigh,” Roche told the club’s official website.

“He picked it up against Stevenage about three weeks ago. It's progressed a little bit after Stevenage and it's kept him out of training.

“He's had a couple of set-backs; with a grade two tear we'd hope that a player would be back within six weeks of the injury, which obviously takes us up to the end of the season, but Robbie is progressing quite well at the moment, and we're hopeful that he might be back before the end of the season.

“If he's not back before the season ends, if we stay in the play-offs, obviously he'll be available for the play-offs.”

Roche added: “We're focussing on plyometric and strength work, he's doing a lot of squats at the moment, loading up his front quads and putting some extra pressure through the muscle.

“Everything we do is as pain allows; we don't want him to be in pain as it will just regress the injury.

“We need to progress it slowly, but efficiently, we don't want to give him too little to do as he won't progress as quickly as we'd like, and he might be out even longer.

“By giving him an optimal amount to do, hopefully it will get him back quicker, and when he does come back he won't break down again.”

It is two weeks since Willmott rubbished rumours that he has agreed a deal to link up with former manager Justin Edinburgh at Gillingham at the end of the season.

He told the Argus: “I’m getting loads of messages and questions from fans and they are all saying I’ve agreed a pre-contract with Gillingham. It’s totally untrue.

“I picked up an injury in training and that’s the only reason I wasn’t involved. But people are saying I’m not playing for the club again and that is total rubbish.”