YORK City Knights boss James Ford could have front-row trouble for Sunday's iPro Sport Cup quarter-final at Rochdale.

Player/assistant-coach Mark Applegarth and big Brett Waller, both impressive in the League One win at Doncaster, are doubts due to niggling injuries and, with Brad Nicholson having exited the club earlier this month and Micky Learmonth a long-term crock, their absences would leave a sizeable hole to fill in the engine room.

The form of Applegarth, Waller, Jack Aldous and Russ Spiers in the five-match winning start to the season has meant Nicholson's departure, allied to Learmonth's absence, has not yet been felt, but the club's ongoing search for a replacement now becomes more pressing.

Ford confirmed the injuries. "Brett has a couple of niggling injuries and we're wary of making them worse," he said.

"He's been excellent so far and we want to make sure he maintains his performance levels.

"Mark had a bit of a calf strain against Doncaster and that impacted on his minutes. I thought it was his best performance of the season for us but we have to be careful.

"We don't want to risk them picking up longer-term injuries by playing when not fully fit."

Elsewhere in the pack, second-row Josh Tonks should be fit to return after missing the win at the Keepmoat due to concussion and this would free up Ryan Mallinder to move forward into the engine room.

Jack Anderson is another option at the back of the pack, having now signed forms following a successful trial and being named 18th man at Donny.

However, if both Applegarth and Waller fail fitness tests, and there are no last-minute recruits, Ford would have to either field a stop-gap at prop or ask skipper Jack Aldous to play the kind of long spells that earned him the nickname Mr Duracell.