THE eagerly awaited return to action of York City's international sharpshooter Levent Yalcin has stalled, the Evening Press can reveal.

And in another blow for the Minstermen, utility player Steve Downes has suffered knee ligament damage that could see him sidelined for up to a month.

Turkish youth international Yalcin saw a specialist earlier this month, with a hernia deemed the cause of a nagging groin problem.

It was feared surgery would be needed with any operation leaving the highly-rated 18-year-old facing another extended spell on the sidelines.

Fortunately for both City and the player, it is now hoped an operation can be avoided after a follow-up scan ruled out a hernia.

However, the exact cause of Yalcin's discomfort has still to be diagnosed.

"It is a bit of a strange one," conceded City boss Chris Brass.

"Rest may well be all that is needed but Lev is due to see a specialist again next week when we will hopefully have a clearer understanding of what the problem is."

Yalcin has endured a luckless ten months since suffering a stress fracture of his pubis.

The injury ruled the youngster, who is still only a trainee, out for the remainder of last season.

He returned for the start of pre-season with Brass looking to draft Yalcin into his first-team squad.

The Middlesbrough-born teenager had to play catch-up in terms of fitness but looked to be edging closer to a senior call-up when he returned to reserve team action in September and scored.

Unfortunately, just days later Yalcin suffered what was believed to be an abductor strain in a youth team game and has been sidelined since then.

Downes was due to be included in the senior squad to face Boston United at Bootham Crescent today but tweaked his medial knee ligaments in training yesterday.

"We won't be able to assess the extent of the injury until it settles down. It could take two to three weeks," said Brass.

"It is frustrating for the lad. It is probably his first injury since he came into professional football and it was just an innocuous block tackle that caused it."

Updated: 10:45 Saturday, October 18, 2003