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City to potentially be without key defender for title showdown
MALACHI FAGAN-WALCOTT looks unlikely to be available for York City’s huge title clash with Forest Green Rovers next Saturday.
The York centre-back is believed to have suffered a concussion during City’s 5-3 victory over Hartlepool United on Saturday, which would lead to a 12-day protocol that does not allow Fagan-Walcott to be involved in training or any form of physical activity.
It would be a major blow for the Minstermen and Adam Hinshelwood, with Fagan-Walcott proving to be an exceptional option amongst the backline in his 10 appearances so far.
Hinshelwood confirmed that it was the reasoning behind Fagan-Walcott’s half-time substitution, but was also pleased with how his replacement Adam Crookes handled 45 minutes of game time, having just recovered from a long-term injury.
“It’s a potential concussion from the header,” Hinshelwood confirmed.
“We’ll have to see how he is, take the right protocols with that one.
“Obviously he’s a big player for us, so we’ll see how he is.
“He stayed on and then Sam [Mannings, physio] did the test and everything and felt that he was a bit concussed, so we had to take the right protocol and get him off immediately.
“Crookesy came on and it’s hard to come on in games like that, especially when the team has momentum.
“He will learn from that and it will do him the world of good to get half a game in that intensity.”
Another substitute to impress Hinshelwood was that of Luca Thomas, who earned City a penalty which Ollie Pearce was able to dispatch.
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Hinshelwood was pleased to see an impact from the Leeds United loanee, admitting that Thomas had found it difficult when starting against both FC Halifax Town and Wycombe Wanderers in the two matches prior.
The boss added: “He did so well when he came on, we wanted to see what he looked like from the start but he had a couple of difficult games.
“I think that at Halifax, he was playing a little bit out of position and he was up against League One opposition in the last game against Wycombe.
“He’s had some tough games to play in, but he’s come through it well and like I said, I thought that he was excellent when he came on.
“He posed a real threat, he put a ball out to Dipo [Akinyemi] and then Joe Felix couldn’t quite put it away, and we saw how disappointed he was with himself.
“I thought that we created some chances, we were a bit tame in the first-half with some of our chances early on, but credit to the players, they kept going, stuck to the game plan.
“A lot got made when I came here that that was the type of Adam Hinshelwood game that was expected, but I much prefer the one’s or two nil’s!”
David Ajiboye was Thomas’ replacement in the starting eleven, making his City debut having joined the club on-loan from Peterborough United earlier in the week.
It was Ajiboye’s third time linking back up with Hinshelwood, having played under the York manager whilst with Brighton & Hove Albion’s academy and at Worthing.
David Ajiboye made his York City debut on Saturday. (Image: Tom Poole) Hinshelwood was happy with what he saw from the debutant, and also highlighted areas of Ajiboye’s game that he could improve upon.
“David showed glimpses of what he is all about.
“He gets the ball, he runs at them and is an exciting player to watch.
“He gets it, faces up his defender and wants to get at them.
“I want to keep that coming from him, I think that he does it and you think ‘what a player, he’s really exciting’ and then he can drift out of games.
“I think that’s David’s next challenge, to stay in games a bit longer and have more moments.
“His 50-yard cross field pass gave them momentum and their corner led to one of the goals as well, so we’ve got to tidy it up.
“Maybe it’s a bit of tiredness on his part, but in the main I thought that he was a real threat.”
Alex Hunt was awarded with the man-of-the-match accolade at full-time, but it was the influence of fellow midfielder Ricky Aguiar that pleased Hinshelwood.
“I know that Ricky can produce that for us, it’s taken him a while to reach those levels but I’m delighted that he has got there today.
“He’ll get a lot of confidence from that.
“Marvin Armstrong got taken ill before the game, so we sent him home because we didn’t want that to spreading around the camp.
“Ricky stepped in and his work rate, him and Ollie, set the press off brilliantly and they worked tirelessly up top.
“He didn’t give them a moment of peace, and that’s what he does for us.
“That run he made between the centre-back and the full-back, we’ve got some quality at the back like Malachi who could find him with passes, and I thought that was a real threat for us.”
