CRESTFALLEN York City defender Gary Hobson admits he is having to swallow a bitter-sweet pill in the march back to full fitness.

The ex-Hull City centre-back confessed he is "gutted" at missing tomorrow's spice-filled game between the Tigers and the Minstermen at Bootham Crescent - not least because the 27-year-old boasts a healthy record of results when lining up against his former club.

But Hobson reasons missing the derby duel will be a small price to pay as he works his way back from a lengthy knee injury - and finally gets to prove his worth to the York City faithful.

"You always want to play against your old clubs and I was really looking forward to this one," admitted Hobson, who began his career at Hull and hails from North Ferriby, just a stones' throw from Boothferry Park.

"I think I've played against Hull about five times since leaving them and have lost just the once so I have a pretty good record against them.

"When I was at Hull I always looked forward to playing York too. They were always good games with good crowds.

"Hull are doing reasonably well, they have picked up some form and I still read the Hull papers and it seems Brian Little is doing a good job.

"But it is a good game for us because they are definitely beatable and we can get ourselves a good result."

The frustration of missing the 'big one' is tempered for Hobson by the fact he is now on the road to recovery.

Hobson, plagued by a knee injury first picked up in the pre-season friendly against Manchester United, has not featured for City since the 3-1 defeat at Exeter six weeks ago.

And he reasons it will be a further four weeks before he is ready for a return to action.

But the extended time on the sidelines means Hobson will be fully fit when he finally becomes available, probably for the first time in his Bootham Crescent career.

"I suffered the injury really early on in pre-season and it all stems from the Man United match," he explained.

"I felt I had done something fairly drastic but because it is against Man United you want to play on.

"It calmed down but little bits were floating around causing more swelling.

"I was playing with it for seven or eight games and was aware something was wrong.

"In the back of my mind I knew I had to get it sorted."

An arthroscopy earlier this month finally revealed the problem.

"The lining of the knee bone had cracked," said Hobson.

"A chunk was taken away and a drill was inserted to make it bleed and help it grow back again.

"It came as a relief to find out what was really wrong.

"When we had that little run of four or five games unbeaten I was playing and it was going okay.

"But I wasn't training, I was having to rest and play.

"That catches up with you in the end and it did with me.

"My form was not brilliant and it started to cost us goals at Exeter because I couldn't get a full stride out."

Hobson's return to the fray is a slow process. He started doing some basic strength work for the first time this week.

"Normally after an arthroscopy you can start getting back after about two weeks but this was quite a delicate problem and you have got to allow it to heal properly.

"It has been a bit of a waiting game to try and let the swelling go down.

"But hopefully these four or five weeks out will allow me to get really fit and I can start pushing for a first team place.

"That is where you want to be - out on the pitch. I miss just kicking a ball."

York City v Hull City file

Nationwide League Division Three

at Bootham Crescent tomorrow 3pm

York City

Possible team: Alan Fettis, Darren Edmondson, Mark Sertori, Matt Hocking, Neville Stamp, Kieron Durkan, Steve Agnew, Lee Bullock, Graham Potter, Alex Mathie, Neil Tarrant

Subs (from): Russ Howarth, Kevin Hulme, Martin Reed, Barry Jones, Barry Conlon, Wayne Hall, David McNiven, Scott Jordan

Injury news: Peter Duffield (broken leg), Peter Swan (knee), Chris Fairclough (calf), Gary Hobson (knee)

Suspended: None

Hull City

Team: Paul Musselwhite, Ian Goodison, Jason Perry, David Brightwell, Mike Edwards, Gary Brabin, Theodore Whitmore, Mark Greaves, Steve Harper, Clint Marcelle, David Brown

Subs (from): Lee Bracey, Phil Brumwell, John Whitney, Jamie Wood, Steve Swales

Injury news: John Eyre (hamstring), Justin Whittle (knee)

Suspended: None

Match Points

In 21 league games between the clubs at York each has won eight times with five draws.

City's biggest wins over the Tigers were 3-0 in 1946/7 and again in 1974/5 when the scorers were Ian Holmes (two penalties) and Barry Swallow.

Bootham Crescent's biggest ever league crowd (21,027) saw Hull win 3-1 on April 23 1949 and March 1966 19,372 were in attendance when the Humbersiders won 2-1.

Hull have only lost twice in their last eight visits and the corresponding game last season ended 1-1. Kevin Hulme netted for York.

Players appearing for both clubs include Tommy Forgan, Ernie Phillips and Norman Wilkinson, Alan Fettis Mick Granger, Eddie Blackburn, John Linaker, Gordon Staniforth, Chris Galvin, Ian Butler, Derek Hood, Gary Swann and Neil Thompson.

Referee: Roger Furnandiz