Duo missing from weekend win available for York City

Both John and Akinyemi were absent from York’s 2-0 victory over Wealdstone on Saturday, as strikes from Ashley Nathaniel-George and Ollie Pearce secured City the three points at Grosvenor Vale.

Hinshelwood explained post-match that John was struggling with tight hips, whilst Akinyemi had suffered through illness over the weekend.

But the duo are now back available for the clash with Braintree, with the York boss hailing the work done by his medical staff in the early stages of the season that has seen City suffer few injuries so far.

“Cam John is back, he was feeling the effect of a lot of minutes into his legs, but he’s back available," Hinshelwood confirmed.

“Dips is feeling a lot better after the weekend, it was just a bit of a sickness bug overnight.

“He will be back in training tonight and available to go.

“Even with Darragh out, with Mo [Fadera] added to the group as well there is a squad of 20 that are all ready to go.

“Some real tough decisions to make. Touch wood, I don’t want to put a dampener on that.

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“I’m really pleased, Sam [Mannings, Head of Science and Medicine] has come in and has done excellent with the medical department, he’s got Levi [Andoh] back playing minutes now out on loan, which is good.

“He missed a lot of football last year and it’s the same with Callum Harriott, it’s great to have him back and to see him out on the pitch.

“We want to keep him there, we’ve done a lot on recovery and have brought new things in to test the players and see where they are at from day-to-day.

“That’s good, we were reliant on the university to do that testing, but we can do it ourselves now. That will really help with the recovery and brings the injury list down a bit.

“Full credit to Paul Harmston [Sports Scientist], Ollie Parker [Head of Sports Science] and Sam, we look at the loads regularly and are quite strict with it.

“It’s so important to get the right amount of work into players and there has been times were players haven’t been available to us because they haven’t trained as much.

“We looked at it and questioned it, but the proof is in the pudding.

Adam Hinshelwood praised the work being done by his backroom staff. (Image: Tom Poole)

“There will be a time where I’m sure there will be injuries, but I’m pleased with where everything is at, at the moment.

“Everyone else is good, everyone else trained today.”

Hinshelwood also spoke on the injury suffered to Darragh O’Connor, believed to be a quad injury, which came as a result of the offside rule, where no flag can be raised until play is finished.

The City boss admitted that he was disappointed about the outcome, and questioned the rule’s impact on the sport.

Hinshelwood vented: “The Rory Watson save came when it was headed out by our player, and someone was in an offside position but apparently wasn’t interfering, so didn’t give an offside.

“The ball then comes into our box and they nearly score from it.

“Some of the decisions are strange and I don’t quite get, if you put the flag up when they are offside then these things don’t happen.

“It’s a disappointing one, but we’ll have to adjust and get on with it.

“No [update], he’s still quite sore and didn’t train today.

“We’ll get a scan into him and as soon as that is done, we’ll know a lot more.

“He’s settled in brilliantly, he’s moved to the area, I don’t think he’s quite in York but he’s close enough.

“He’s settled in with his partner and I think they’ve got a dog now, so he seems to be loving the Yorkshire life.

“It’s a good group to be a part of, and Darragh has settled into that really well.”

The York boss was impressed by the impact of substitute Malachi Fagan-Walcott, making his debut for the Minstermen after signing on a season-long loan from Cardiff City, and discussed how he will handle the return of fellow sub Callum Harriott, who generated his first minutes since last December.

“I thought he was excellent to be honest.

“He was really calm and composed, the first pass he gave away but he didn’t let his head drop or bother him too much.

“He carried on going and showed a high level of professionalism after that.

York City have been fortunate with injury list so far this season. (Image: Tom Poole)

“He won some really big headers for us and is really calm on the ball, a rare trait at our level, to have someone that is that dominant in the air and so comfortable on the ball as well.

“It was a really good first display, but he’s set a high standard and I’m sure he will want to stick to that.”

On Harriott, Hinshelwood detailed: “It’s so important, the extra bit of work that the medical staff have done.

“We’re going to have to manage certain players differently and Callum is one of them.

“Ultimately, we want him out on the pitch more so we’ve been doing all that we can to make that the case this year.

“He’s had a bit of an injury ravaged career so far, and we want him to really fulfil his potential and get to the heights that we know he can with us.

“To do that, we’ve got to have a specific programme for him, day-to-day and recovery-wise.

“It may take him longer to recover, he came on for a spell and probably won’t be ready to start and get 60 to 70 minutes into him yet, but we’ll build it up nicely, that’s going to be the goal.”