INJURED York City Knights RL winger Austin Buchanan has been forced to take a step back on the road to recovery after learning his wrist has not healed properly.

The young flier has missed 14 games since breaking his forearm on the opening day at Castleford and this latest setback means he will be out of action for longer.

That's bad news for the club and the player, who has just celebrated his 21st birthday knowing he faces an extended spell on the sidelines.

His return to non-contact training six weeks ago sparked hopes of a full return to action as early as June.

But it has since been discovered that the bones in his wrist have failed to knit together properly - and the problem may even have been made worse by light weight training.

Head coach Mick Cook said: "He saw a specialist and it showed that the bones hadn't knit together properly. We think it may have been aggravated by doing light weights. That may have caused some irritation to the injury and has put him back a little.

"He was really disappointed but he's got to take it on the chin. We can't risk putting him into a full contact situation and breaking it again while it's weak so he needs to rest it - there's a big enough risk of breaking bones in this sport anyway."

Time-frames are still out of reach but Cook is hopeful of seeing a return of last season's LHF National League Two young player of the year before the end of the league season.

"I think he will be back," he said. "It's showing signs of improvement but these breaks are really tricky to mend and you get all sorts of complications."

Utility back Jonny Liddell is determined to get his hands on a shirt for the Blackpool Panthers match on Saturday (5.30pm) after getting stuck into training this week.

Liddell has been out of action since enduring a compound dislocation of a finger in the opening five minutes of the fifth round Challenge Cup match at St Helens, and, despite sitting out full contact work, was feeling strong.

And prop Craig Forsyth is also hoping to be in contention after surviving training for the first time in weeks without getting a reaction from his troublesome calf.

Versatile back-rower Mark Cain is playing the waiting game following surgery on a shoulder problem last week that will keep him in a sling for six weeks, with another six weeks of rehabilitation needed after that.

But in better news, long-term absentee Chris Spurr has started a running programme in his mission to return from the nasty ankle injury he incurred while playing for Great Britain students in November.

Said Cook: "He still looked a little bit uncomfortable but he's back training and that's a real positive for Chris.

"He's getting stronger by the week. He's just doing track work but he's getting the movement back in his ankle joint which is a real way forward."

Updated: 09:59 Monday, May 30, 2005