Danny Nicklas poised to rescue injury-hit York City Knights (From York Press)

Danny Nicklas poised to rescue injury-hit York City Knights

1:17pm Thursday 16th August 2012 in Sport By Peter Martini, peter.martini@thepress.co.uk

YORK City Knights are hoping Danny Nicklas could ride to the rescue this week and line up in the team that goes to Batley on Sunday.

The injury-hit Championship strugglers will now be without first-choice hooker Jack Lee this weekend to add to the plethora of personnel already on the treatment table, following his ankle injury in the loss at Halifax.

They were already down to the bare bones at The Shay, so much so they fielded five novices, including Liam Ellis, who became the club’s youngest-ever player – taking that record from fellow 17-year-old forward Tim Stubbs following his debut nine days earlier.

Lee’s injury means yet another young-gun is likely to be called up for a first-team debut – highly-rated under-18s hooker Harry Carter, another of the teenage starlets who recently signed pro forms.

But they could really do with more options – and indeed bodies – and are hoping Nicklas, still signed at Huntington Stadium on dual-registration forms, will be made available by parent club Hull, having not been in the first-team reckoning at the Super League outfit last week.

In better news for York, second-row Ed Smith – now a relative veteran at the age of 19 – was back in training this week after his latest injury.If there are no ill-effects, he is likely to come into the reckoning for the trip to Mount Pleasant.

Tom Bush is also set to keep his place at full-back despite exiting the Halifax match after a knock to a shoulder, and the club are hopeful Adam Sullivan can continue to battle through his knee trouble.

However, Paul King remains sidelined – and is seemingly is set to join the list of players who are out for the season – due to ankle, elbow and hand injuries, fellow packman James Houston is in a simlar boat with his leg problem, and captain James Ford would need miraculous recovery powers to pass fit for this weekend. To add a comedy element to the Knights’ injury woes, many of the squad were bitten to bits by mosquitoes and midgies during training this week.

Meanwhile, forward Chris Green, 22, who came to York on dual-reg with Nicklas earlier this season before forcing his way into Hull’s first-team reckoning, has signed a new two-year deal with the Black and Whites.

Green scored his first try for the club in Sunday’s win over Catalans. He said: “I’ve enjoyed my spells on loan at York and Doncaster, but there is nothing like playing in the black and white at the KC Stadium. It’s very special.”

Former Knights loose-forward David March has signed a contract extension at Hunslet for 2013.