DEPLETED Newport County will arrive at York City without seven players as they try to keep their Sky Bet League Two promotion dream alive.
The Welsh club terminated the contract of striker Chris Zebroski last week after he was jailed for four years and four months having pleaded guilty to robbery, attempted robbery and assault relating to two separate incidents.
Six players, meanwhile, are currently in the treatment room.
Skipper Darren Jones (shoulder) and Lee Minshull (muscle injury) are the most-recent casualties, joining Andrew Hughes (knee), Ismail Yakubu (hamstring), Max Porter (toe) and Robbie Willmott (thigh).
Jones, Hughes and Yakubu are all defenders with Minshull, Porter and Willmott midfielders, leaving manager Jimmy Dack short of options for his 3-5-2 formation.
Young starlet Regan Poole has consequently been pressed into action in defence at the age of 16 and on- loan Cardiff teenager David Tutonda is helping fill the midfield void.
In attack, Zebroski’s criminal conviction followed Rene Howe’s decision last month to take time out to look after his seriously-ill wife.
Aaron O’Connor heads the Exiles’ charts with 12 goals, netting four times in his last eight outings, but Jimmy Dack’s men are the lowest scorers in the division’s top 14 with 49.
Newport also take on City having lost their last four games.
The visitors currently lie two places and three points outside the play-off zone with a goal difference vastly inferior to Plymouth and Luton - directly above them in the standings.
Newport (probable): Day, Feely, Poole, Sandell, Jackson, Tutonda, Chapman, Byrne, Klukowski, O’Connor, Storey.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here