JON Parkin has been ruled out of York City’s National League North home clash with Darlington tomorrow night and will have a scan on his calf injury.

The 35-year-old striker missed Saturday’s 5-0 victory at Bradford Park Avenue after limping out of the action during last Tuesday’s 2-0 triumph at Blyth Spartans and won’t be available for City’s second game of the season at Bootham Crescent.

Michael Rankine, who was unavailable for the opening two fixtures of the campaign, will continue to lead the line in Parkin’s absence with long-term absentees Clovis Kamdjo and Matt Fry the Minstermen’s only other absentees.

Centre-back Hamza Bencherif will sit out Saturday’s home clash against Nuneaton following his red card at Bradford, with bans served seven days after the misdemeanour in English football’ sixth tier.

On Parkin’s condition, City chief Gary Mills said: “He’s still the same. He’s going to have a scan to see if we can find anything, which is something that seems to happen now when players get injuries.

“Sometimes, players need a scan to show them there’s nothing there – a bit like Michael Rankine’s hamstring – and we’re hoping it will be the same case with Jon. He’s feeling his calf quite a bit and he feels like it’s going to pull, so we’re resting him up to see if that clears it up, whilst he has a scan at the same time.”

Mills admitted he is looking forward, meanwhile, to tackling neighbours Darlington who, along with Brackley and Southport, boast the division’s only 100 per cent records after three games and are expected to bring a strong travelling army of supporters for the 55-mile trip.

“We had a great crowd for our first game and Darlo might bring a few down, because it’s not a million miles away for them to travel and they’ve started the season well,” he pointed out.

“We’ll have a few local derbies this season and we didn’t get too many in the other league, so it’s all set up for a big game on a nice summer’s evening. I know what I need to know about Darlington.

“They’ve got a few good players who have played for me and they’ll be one of the teams who will be there or thereabouts, as they’ve shown by winning their first three games. They’ll want to come to York and show that they’re the team to beat this season, but we’ve got to show our fans we can bounce back at home, having lost our first game to Telford and make sure that teams coming to play us know they won’t be in for an easy time.”

Darlington and Brackley are also the league’s top scorers on ten goals – three more than City – with Mills stressing the importance of continuing to find the net on a regular basis, with goal difference possibly proving crucial in a division where only one club will win automatic promotion.

“We need to keep taking our chances because goal difference can be a massive factor,” he reasoned. “We’re up there in that respect having scored five at Bradford Park Avenue, but Darlington also got four and Brackley five at the weekend, so there are teams out there scoring goals.”