YORK City manager Simon Collins has called on his squad players to fill the hole left by the injured Simon Heslop.

As revealed by The Press, the midfielder, who has sat out the last three games, is now sidelined for around eight weeks following knee surgery.

Collins had praise for loanee Lewis Hawkins, who stepped into a central role against Bradford Park Avenue, but wants others to step up to the plate as well.

He said: “Knowing Simon, he’ll probably want to be back next week, because that’s the type of lad that he is.

“The key is obviously not to rush him, and to get him back when he’s right, because we need him. He’s a big loss to us and, in some ways, the last two or three games have shown that.

“But Lewis came in and did really well last week and we’re hoping he can keep that going.

“You’re going to get injuries. It’s down to players that are here to step up and replace him and hopefully do as well as he was doing.

“Apart from the Nuneaton one, where he had probably his quietest game so far, I can’t think of a game where I thought ‘Hez is not at it today’.”