PICKERING Town will have to patch up their side for their Northern Counties East League premier division game against Barton Town Old Boys tomorrow.

Sixth-placed Barton visit the Recreation Ground and will face a depleted Pikes side in the midst of an injury crisis and on the back of a controversial North Riding County FA Senior Cup thumping.

Top scorer Ged Dalton, Sam Calvert (both groin) and Nathan Kamara (suspended) are ruled out, while Terry Taylor (shoulder), Peter Lawrie (thigh) and Joe Danby (ankle) are all doubtful.

Manager Paul Marshall outlined the extent of his availability concerns.

“We’ll have to patch ourselves up and fight our way through Saturday," he said.

“This season we’ve managed to make sure everyone who has put a shirt has made us competitive, but it’s hard at the moment.

“We had 11 players at 23 years old and under on Tuesday. Sam Lingard played, as did Sam Lake, and both did well.”

Marshall reckoned midweek North Riding Senior Cup tie at Marske United, in which his side lost 4-1, should never have gone ahead.

“The pitch was unplayable, we didn’t really want the game to go ahead and it should have been called off earlier," he said.

“It was a joke all round. As the pitches get worse, injuries will only increase.”

The Pikes have brought Toby Wells - former deputy head boy at Easingwold School and goalkeeper for Crayke in the York Minster Engineering League - back to the club, to ease their worries. Wells also had a spell at Barton Town.

Meanwhile, Tadcaster Albion manager Billy Miller has hailed the club’s "army of volunteers" in their latest fight against flooding.

Over half of their Ings Lane pitch was submerged this week after the River Wharfe burst its banks.

The table-toppers are due to meet second-placed Worksop Town on Saturday in an FA Vase second round tie and Miller paid tribute to those trying to get the game played.

“Obviously the game is in massive doubt,” he said. “We’ve got our fingers crossed and we should know either way before Saturday.

“I went down there and it was quite devastating to see the state of the pitch, with all of the hard work that our army of volunteers put in.

“They are putting in a phenomenal amount of work to give it the best chance. There’s a great community spirit around the club - it’s very stable off the field.

“Our job is to match that with what we do on the field.”

In division one, Selby Town manager Dave Ricardo anticipates an "awkward game" against his former club Hall Road Rangers tomorrow.

Like Tadcaster, the Robins are piling up postponements and have been forced to call off their last three home games.

Ricardo said: “I know all of their squad and I played with their manager Martin (Thacker). Martin was one of the best in the NCEL at the time.

“They are an awkward team, technically not the best, but it will be a battle."

Ricardo, meanwhile, was keen to thank to Goole Town manager Alan Semley after the pair spoke this week regarding the recent transfer of Albion sharp-shooter Chris Jackson to the Evo-Stik League club.

Ricardo had described Semley’s handling of the move as "disrespectful", but was grateful for his subsequent gesture.

“I appreciated Alan’s efforts to go into detail about what happened to tell his side of the story, if you like," he said.

“I’d like to thank Alan for having the decency to call me, deal with things properly and we agreed that any further contact between the two clubs will be amicable.”

Elsewhere, mid-table Knaresborough Town go to fifth-placed Emley.

At the foot of Ev-Stik League division one north, second-bottom Harrogate Railway seek much-needed points as they go to basement side New Mills, while mid-table Scarborough Athletic host Droylsden.

Harrogate Town, who won 2-0 at Brighouse Town in the West Riding County Cup on Monday thanks to first-half goals by Andy Gascoigne, from the spot, and Marcus Day, visit lowly Corby Town tomorrow in the Vanarama National League North.