ADAM HINSHELWOOD explained the absence of captain Callum Howe from York City’s 1-0 defeat to Gainsborough Trinity.

With York drawn against Gainsborough in the FA Trophy fourth round, one of the big talking points pre-match was the involvement of the Howe brothers, with older brother Callum the captain of City, and younger brother Declan as Trinity’s striker.

It brought an interesting dynamic, especially as Declan would go on to score the winning goal in the 60th minute, but Callum was not involved in the York squad.

This was despite the captain doing pre-match warm-ups with his teammates, and his family being the main sponsors of the match.

“We looked at the loads of Callum Howe, Marvin Armstrong, Ollie Pearce and Joe Felix in particular,” Hinshelwood explained.

“They’ve put in extra work the other day and Dips [Dipo Akinyemi] did as well for his first game back, we’ve got to be careful as it’s a quick turnaround.

“We’ll find that when we go to Rochdale, Saturday to Wednesday.

“It’s six games now in quick succession and we’ve got to find better form, everyone is going to be needed.

“We’ve got to perform better than we did today [Saturday].”

Hinshelwood also responded to talk of rumoured interest in Dipo Akinyemi, with BBC York reporting on Friday evening that the striker was set for a move to League Two side Chesterfield.

City co-chairman Matt Uggla responded to the report on social media platform X, simply with ‘nope’.

Hinshelwood was tight-lipped on the speculation, similarly to how he had been with regards to Josh Stones, and expects Akinyemi to train with York on Monday.

The boss stated: “Honestly he’s a York City player and that’s as far as the discussion goes in my opinion.

“He’s a York City player today and that’s all we’re going to say on the matter.

“I’ve heard things that are being tattled about, I’m not on social media so I don’t get to hear any of it.

“Dipo, I am expecting back in training on Monday and that’s all I’ve got to say on the situation.

“Him and Marv weren’t here today because of the load that they’ve got through.

“There’s nothing more to add to it than that, all we can speak about is what’s happening today in front of our eyes out on the pitch, and it’s not good enough for a York City team.”