YORK City boss Nigel Worthington is “delighted” to have recruited Wolves ’keeper Aaron McCarey on loan within 24 hours of learning that Nick Pope would be recalled by parent club Charlton.

The Addicks’ first-choice shot- stopper Ben Hamer suffered an ankle ligament injury in the warm-up prior to their midweek home match with Doncaster Rovers, meaning understudy Ben Alnwick is now required between the sticks for the South London club and Pope needed on the bench.

Pope has started City’s last two games and, with Michael Ingham’s hip flexor injury still progressing “slowly” and previous loan signing Chris Kettings having returned to Blackpool of his own volition, Worthington acted swiftly to bring in 21-year-old McCarey.

The 6ft 3in ’keeper has ten Republic of Ireland Under-21 caps to his name and was also called up to his country’s senior squad for the 2-0 defeat to Spain in New York during June.

McCarey joined Wolves from home-town club Monaghan United in January 2010 and made his debut for the Molineux club this season, saving two penalties in a Johnstone’s Paint Trophy shoot-out victory against Walsall.

He also enjoyed a loan spell with Walsall, replacing previous first-choice David Grof in goal from November to March before an injury to Carl Ikeme saw him return to Wolves.

McCarey will make his Minstermen debut in tomorrow’s home match with Rochdale, with City chief Worthington saying: “He has done a little bit before at Walsall, which is always a good thing.

“He is also in the throes of signing a new two-and-a-half year deal at Wolves so they think highly of him and I am delighted to get somebody of his ability at such short notice.

“It’s not easy to do that in 24 hours but he comes highly recommended and our goalkeeping coach Andy Collett has played a big part in bringing him in.

“All good goalkeeper coaches, through their contacts, know who is on tap if needed.”

Worthington thanked Pope, meanwhile, for his short contribution and expressed an interest in bringing him back to Bootham Crescent at a later date.

“The Football League made the decision that Nick could go back to Charlton and that’s normal practice,” Worthington pointed out. “But I have spoken to (Charlton manager) Chris Powell and have told him if there is a chance to get the lad back out at some point then we could look to do it.

“I was very impressed with him in the two games he played for us. He was great to have around the place and had a presence on the pitch.”

City will also be missing on-loan midfielder Elliott Whitehouse against Rochdale as he serves a one-match suspension for accruing five bookings.

That will, however, mean a recall to the squad for winger Ryan Brobbel, who fell victim to the ruling that permits just five loan players for any fixture.

The City boss added: “Elliott being out allows Ryan to come back in the group, which is good for him and us.”

Fourth-placed Rochdale come to North Yorkshire on the back of a shock 4-0 home defeat to Scunthorpe but Worthington is reading little into that result, other than it reflects what an evenly-matched division League Two remains.

“That game sums up this division,” Worthington said.

“Teams can get beaten at the top and teams at the bottom can pick up wins.

“Southend are a great measure of what can be done. They have won five games on the spin and it has catapulted them up to third.

“If you can get a run going and a bit of momentum that can happen. Rochdale have just had a disappointing result and will be missing two players who were sent off but they have had a good start to the season and I am sure Keith Hill will have enough players to put a good team out.

“We have lost only one out of five games in the League though and need to try to extend that, as well as getting a few more wins by working through the pain barrier to get some pleasure.

“Our performances overall have been good, especially the last two.

“We have created more chances than the opposition in both matches and come away with just one point from a possible six so it’s a tough game but we’ve just got to be consistent and keep things tight by building on Tuesday’s clean sheet because we know we can score goals at the other end if we go back to converting the chances that we have been creating.”

Worthington added that scans have revealed central defender Chris Smith has suffered ankle ligament damage and not a fracture, meaning he could be back in action within a month.