York City shot-stopper suffers 'freak' injury in training incident

The midfielder missed his first minutes of the season in Saturday’s 3-0 victory over AFC Fylde, with Alex Hunt performing in his role.

Manager Adam Hinshelwood confirmed that Batty had suffered a back spasm in training, which kept him out of the match with Fylde, and could keep him absent from the trip to Aldershot.

Batty has not yet trained this week for York, with Hinshelwood reserving judgement until Friday’s training session on whether or not one of City’s standout players will be involved.

“He’s struggling to get up right for Saturday and is potentially walking a lot better,” Hinshelwood confirmed to the Press.

“He has missed a whole week of training, so whether he can get enough distance into his legs this week to be available for Saturday, I’m not sure.

“If he comes through Friday’s session, if he’s back available for Friday, then we will definitely take a look at it.”

Hinshelwood also revealed that York had not come through their win against Fylde unscathed, with Callum Harriott suffering with a tight muscle after the win.

The winger came off of the bench to register his first City goal of the year, meeting Lenell John-Lewis’ pass to sweep home and round off the scoring.

Adam Crookes has also suffered a set back, expected to only be for one week, with the defender having his load of intensity training reduced with the hope of easing him back into the fold.

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Darragh O’Connor has also been for a scan, but Hinshelwood confirmed that he was not yet aware of the damage of his injury sustained against Wealdstone.

“All good, the only one that hasn’t featured much since Saturday is Callum Harriott.

“It’s nothing too sinister, but just a bit of tightness.

“We want to be ultra cautious on that one, he’s done so well when he came on so the last thing we want to do is try and rush him back.

“Whether he will be quite fit enough for this Saturday, probably not, it might come too soon. I’d like to think that he will be available on Tuesday.

“Crookesy felt a bit of tightness from his injury, so we’ve sort of de-loaded him a bit this week.

“He’s not feeling it as much now, so we’re hoping that by dropping his intensity a little bit will allow us to ramp it back up next week.

“It might have put us back a week or so, but we’re happy with how it’s progressing and hope to see him back in training in the foreseeable future, very soon.

“Darragh went for a scan Thursday, so we’re just waiting for the extent of that damage, is there is anything at all, and the news on that to come back.

“Once we get that, we’ll know a bit more and have a clear indication of where he is at.”

Another injury has also been added to York’s growing list, with goalkeeper George Sykes-Kenworthy set for up to two months on the sidelines.

George Sykes-Kenworthy is set to be out of action for up to two months after a 'freak' injury. (Image: Tom Poole)

The York shot-stopper has not yet appeared this season, with Harrison Male and Rory Watson accumulating a combined five clean sheets in nine matches, meaning that Sykes-Kenworthy has found it difficult to break into the first-team.

Sykes-Kenworthy suffered a ‘freak training ground incident’ when sustaining an ankle injury during a game of head tennis, which saw the goalkeeper undergo a scan.

Hinshelwood confirmed to the Press that the scan requires Sykes-Kenworthy to wear a precautionary boot, and that he could be out of action for up to two months.

The boss told the Press: “It’s just a bit of a flair up from his injury, it’s more precaution.

“He’s still feeling it, so it’s best to just put him in a boot and take the weight away from it.

“It wasn’t good news back from his scan, it’s going to be a bit longer than we thought, more like six to eight weeks for George.

“It’s a blow for him, it is pass and parcel.

“It was a bit of a freak training ground incident, I think that they were just playing head tennis one day and he’s just gone over on his ankle.

“It’s a freak one, but it’s not good for him.

“Mentally, he will have to come through it, and I’m sure that he will.

“Joe [Stead, goalkeeping coach] and the new physio Sam [Mannings] that we have got, will work tirelessly to get him back ready.”