Swindon Town are hoping common sense will prevail in the club’s bid to finalise the loan signing of Charlton Athletic striker Paul Benson.

Skysports.com revealed on Friday that Swindon had agreed a deal to sign Benson on loan before Thursday’s deadline after the 32-year-old’s move to Bradford City fell through.

However, the Football League has yet to ratify the switch and Robins chairman Jeremy Wray is keeping his fingers crossed that Benson can be added to Paolo Di Canio’s squad until January.

“We hope common sense will allow Paul Benson to become a Swindon Town player,” Wray told the club’s official website.

“On deadline day we were alerted late in the day to Paul’s availability after his move to another club had fallen through.

“Charlton were as helpful as they could be to allow the player to move to Swindon at such a late stage and Paul and his agent stopped at a motorway service station to fax their agreement through to us at The County Ground.

“We immediately added our paperwork and sent this through to the Football League and the FA.

“The Football League acknowledges that Swindon received the signed documentation before the 5pm deadline and we believe that we did everything possible to get them to the Football League in time.

“At this stage we are hopeful that the best endeavours of all parties to complete this deal on time will be recognised and that common sense will prevail, allowing Paul Benson to begin his Swindon Town career.”