York City trio Jon Parkin, Simon Heslop and Hamza Bencherif fit to face Stockport

Parkin only just passed a fitness test to feature in last weekend’s 2-2 home draw with Spennymoor due to a tight hamstring muscle, but has trained all week with no adverse reaction.

Former skipper Heslop, meanwhile, has recovered form the groin/hamstring problem that caused him to miss the second half of City’s last match and Bencherif is available despite being replaced during the latter stages of that game following a kick to his knee.

Providing an update on the players’ conditions, City sporting director Dave Penney said: “Simon Heslop and Hamza Bencherif have both trained and Jon is fine too. He played last week even though he wasn’t at his sharpest because, even if he’s not scoring or playing at the top of his game, he occupies defenders so other people can get a goal.”

Penney and manager Martin Gray watched Stockport’s 4-1 midweek loss at promotion hopefuls Harrogate Town, but the pair are not reading too much into the final scoreline having felt it was not an accurate reflection of the overall game.

“Me and Martin went to Harrogate and it was good to get that chance, because it’s rare you get the opportunity,” Penney pointed out. “But it was a difficult game to assess because the 3G pitch means you get a completely different game.

“Teams play differently than they do on grass, regardless of factors like bounce and touch. It’s difficult to put your finger on why that should be, but Stockport started 4-5-1 and then changed 4-4-2 and, at 1-1, they had good chances to take the lead.

“They ended up conceding four goals, but there wasn’t much to choose between the two teams and it just came down to fine lines, like most matches at this level. I’m sure, off the back of a 4-1 defeat though, (Stockport manager) Jim (Gannon) will be looking for a reaction.”

Two players unlikely to feature at Edgeley Park are Theo Wharton and Sam Muggleton, who have both been made available for loan moves until the end of the season, with Penney adding: “The manager at Tamworth wanted to use the money they would have paid to keep Theo there to get a striker instead.

“We’ll now send another circular out saying who is available and, maybe, next Tuesday, people can come to our North Riding Cup tie against Borough Rangers and see what they’re about.”

Eighteen-year-old keeper Ryan Whitley, meanwhile, is looking for another opportunity to play senior football, having seen his loan stay at Whitby Town cut short.

“Whitby were looking for a bit more experience, so we’ll look to get Ryan out again,” Penney explained. “We could have made Ryan stay at Whitby, because they are contracted to pay his wages until the end of the season, but we’ve decided to recall him, because there was no point in him being there if he wasn’t going to play.”

Penney confirmed that the Minstermen are still waiting to see whether Middlesbrough midfielder Alex Pattison secures a loan move to a Football League club before the transfer window closes next week.

If Pattison stays put, City, who are not subject to the same regulations, would then look to bring him back to Bootham Crescent following his successful one-month stint that came to an end earlier this month.

Penney also suggested that City are not currently pursuing any other targets.

Despite the likes of League Two Mansfield fielding 11 players with senior experience in their 3-1 reserve victory over the Minstermen last week, Penney confessed that there are problems trying to persuade such professionals to drop two divisions into regionalised football.

“There’s no change with Alex Pattison,” the former Doncaster boss revealed. “We’ll still need to wait until February and we’re not looking to bring anybody else in.

“I think clubs like Mansfield would give us a player, but it probably boils down to whether the players or their agents want to drop down to the level because, if they couldn’t handle it in this league and got found out, where are they going to go after that?”

When also asked whether chairman Jason McGill’s comments that the survival of the football club was at stake, pending the resolution of the ongoing shares and funding issue with the Supporters Trust, had any impact on the playing staff, Penney reasoned: “Probably subconsciously, but nobody has really fetched it.

“Whether it affects individuals, I don’t know, but they’ll just have to deal with it. All we can influence is what’s happening on the pitch and the chairman backs the manager with everything he wants to do.”