York City starlet Ashley Nathaniel-George avoids long-term injury

Nathaniel-George was an unfortunate casualty of York City’s 3-0 victory over Solihull Moors last week, having hobbled off of the pitch in the first-half through a hamstring injury after opening the scoring for the Minstermen.

Hinshelwood detailed that Nathaniel-George had been sent off for a scan last week, and has confirmed to the Press that the attacker will only be sidelined for up to two weeks, having forcibly missing out on international duty with the Antigua and Barbuda national team.

“It was just a grade one, so there’s nothing to sinister with his hamstring,” Hinshelwood told the Press.

“He’s looking to be back running tomorrow, and then training by the end of the week.

“The FA Cup game might be too soon, but he should be really close come Ebbsfleet and Barnet.

“He’s a big player, we moved him slightly inside against Solihull and I thought that he looked really threatening there.

“It was the same at Aldershot, he’s the sort of player that can turn defence into attack just by giving him the ball.

“He’s prepared to take it in tight areas, so games like Saturday when there was not much space, he’s one who’s prepared to take it and take them on, so he was a big miss.

“We’re pleased that it’s nothing too sinister, he was due to go on international duty but obviously he won’t now.

“He’ll stay and continue his rehab with us, with Sam [Mannings, physio]

“We’ll welcome him back as soon as possible, but I want to make sure that he is ready.”

Hinshelwood also provided an update on both Adam Crookes and Dan Batty, with the latter now available to start after a substitute appearance in Saturday’s goalless draw against Eastleigh.

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The midfielder had suffered a back spasm after a brilliant start to the Vanarama National League season, seeing Batty miss out on three matches, before returning to the substitutions bench last weekend.

Crookes is also close to earning minutes having not yet made an appearance this season, with the left-sided defender back in training.

Hinshelwood confirmed: “Crookesy is back in training.

“He’s just doing the tight area stuff, he’s not quite there yet in the big distances so it’s just anything in the tight spaces at the moment.

“Provided that he comes through that okay and has no reaction, the next move will be to move him into bigger spaces.

“A week or so of that, then we’ll look to start giving him minutes.

Dan Batty is pushing for a start after missing four matches for York City. (Image: Tom Poole) “Next week in the FA Cup might be too soon, it will more realistically be Ebbsfleet, Barnet or even the week after that.

“[On Batty] It was just a case of two weeks with his back spasm, he didn’t get enough minutes into his legs in training.

“To start him in that game, it was one that we had to be careful when he has previous history with injuries as well.

“We don’t want to rush him back, but he came on and is a big player for us is Dan, and he has had a good start to the season.

“We will welcome him back and have real competition for places in the centre of the pitch, and all over the pitch to be honest.

“It’s tough, but that’s the message that we have relayed to the players, that there are going to be some tough decisions and calls.

“We have Woking, we have the FA Cup and then we’ve got back-to-back home games on Saturday to Tuesday, so the majority of the squad is going to be needed.

“I think that’s probably the difference between us and other teams, we have that good nucleus of a squad where we can rotate and whenever we have done it, it’s been done well as the players that have come in have been excellent.”

Bill Marshall has impressed manager Adam Hinshelwood. (Image: Tom Poole) Another player that is currently recovering from a long-term injury is that of Alex Hernandez.

The young striker is yet to play under Hinshelwood, with the City boss admitting that Hernandez would likely gain valuable minutes with the academy upon recovering from injury, before making a move out on loan to get a taste of senior football.

Hinshelwood also commented on the progress of youngsters Bill Marshall and Leon Gibson-Booth, who have both excelled whilst on loan with Ossett United.

The impressive form of the duo has earned the York loanees a move higher up in the footballing pyramid, which has pleased the City boss.

“I’d say he’s [Hernandez] sort of like Billy Marshall and Gibson-Booth, just because of the time he has played.

“He is a young player and hasn’t played much football in the last year or so, or certainly since I’ve entered the club.

“I’ve not seen him train much, let alone play games.

“He’s close, but he’ll get some minutes for the youth team and then we will potentially look at loaning him out.

“We’ll get him out and playing men’s football, it’s done brilliant for Billy and Leon and we’re just trying to finalise a loan move for them moving up the pyramid a bit more, which is brilliant.

“They’ve done well in their loan and have got great feedback, now we want to keep on pushing them.

“They’re both doing really well, Billy Marshall in training has been excellent and I have seen some real improvement in him.

“It’s been nice to see.”