YORK City Knights are hoping Josh Bowden and Dean Hadley will be back in the fold this weekend – to help the club overcome injury woes that boss Gary Thornton did not expect so early in the season.

Partnership club Hull have intimated that the prop and second-row will be among the dual-registered players made available for the Knights’ home clash with big-guns Halifax on Sunday.

If so – and Thornton probably won’t know until after Hull’s Super League clash with Warrington on Saturday evening – it will provide a timely fillip for a pack which has been shorn of Matt Nicholson, the man of the match in the win over Swinton 11 days ago, and probably fellow front-rower Austin Bell too.

Nicholson is ruled out indefinitely by a shoulder problem, needing a scan to work out the extent of the damage, and Bell has ankle and hip complaints – the pair being among the several injury victims in Sunday’s hard loss at Batley.

“We’re a bit beaten up at the minute,” said Thornton, having taken stock of the damage suffered at Mount Pleasant.

“We only had ten players training on Tuesday night and we had to pull a couple of players out of the under-20s reserves friendly at Oldham (last night). I didn’t really expect that kind of situation this early in the season.

“Matt Nicholson is probably the biggest concern. He went to hospital after Sunday’s match and, although X-rays showed no broken bones, there is muscle or ligament damage. There has been some improvement since Sunday but he’ll need an MRI scan.”

Dual-registered half-back Danny Nicklas is definitely out of Sunday’s match with a shoulder injury, while hooker Jack Lee is rated only 50-50 and might also need a scan on a shoulder. Aaron Lyons is doubtful with a hip problem.

In better news, Jack Latus, whose trial ends after this weekend, should be okay despite turning an ankle at Batley, while prop Luke Stenchion is in line for his debut having only just failed a fitness test last weekend as he returns from injury.

Captain James Ford is hopeful of returning, too, after sitting out the Bulldogs defeat due to a quad strain.

Bowden has not been made available for York since the opening day loss at Whitehaven, even though he has neither played for Hull, his parent club having wanted to keep him fresh in reserve in case of further injuries in their own first-team pack, which has been without Danny Tickle, Liam Watts and star man Gareth Ellis.

Hadley played in York’s first two games but missed the Batley clash with an ankle problem.

Knights utility back James Haynes and hooker Kriss Brining were withdrawn from last night’s U20s run-out in case they were needed on Sunday.

Hull, meanwhile, were running fitness checks on Ben Crooks and Jay Pitts ahead of their game against Warrington but, should they prove okay, the Airlie Birds were expected to again free up backs Jack Briscoe, Joe Arundel and Jamie Shaul, along with Hadley and, hopefully, Bowden for York’s match on Sunday, albeit dependent on events in the Saturday evening encounter.

Meanwhile, Thornton has confirmed Jason Golden as his vice-captain, the former Wakefield and Harlequins back-rower having taken on the skipper’s role on Sunday in Ford’s absence.

Said the head coach: “I’ve got a leadership group and Jason is in that along with Jack Lee, Simon Brown, James Haynes, Adam Sullivan and James Ford.

“Jason is always quite vociferous within that and I thought he was an ideal choice.

“With his experience, the boys look up to him, he’s a good talker and he’s good in training, always putting his heart and soul into everything.”