STEVE WATSON is optimistic Dan Maguire will be the only absentee for today's visit of Telford United.

York City are hoping the striker will be fit again for next week's trip to King's Lynn Town, Watson confirmed in the week.

Adriano Moke and Sean Newton had a bug, but the latter trained on Thursday ahead of the National League North clash with the Shropshire outfit.

And Watson is prepared to give Moke as much time as is necessary for him to recover, if needs be, making a decision as close to kick off as required.

At the fans' forum on Wednesday evening, Watson was asked about whether he was injured before he came and what York will do if they do not get him back in time.

Watson reassured fans: "Dan wasn't injured when he arrived.

"He came in from being a plumber, he's done a full pre-season and I think he's found (the step up to full-time football) quite tough, tougher than anybody would have envisaged.

"He got injured early in the season and, since then, he's had four different injuries. You could never see that coming.

"The latest is that we're expecting him back for King's Lynn.

"We've got lots of irons in the fire if it doesn't work out but we need to give Dan - and ourselves, because he's one of the best striker in the league - a chance of proving what he can do.

"It's been frustrating for yourselves and an absolute nightmare for us.

"He's had five different comeback dates, and something else has happened. That's football. People lose their best players for seasons. Shearer was out for three full seasons with cruciates and things and you have to cope without them.

"Dan was one of our marquee signings. The budget was split with looking at Dan, McNulty and Green in mind so it's not as easy as saying, 'That hasn't worked, let's get another in'.

"We have got contingencies for all of them. We've been speaking to clubs for two months now about different players in that department, players that we thought might have a chance of coming out, then they've gone in and been involved with their first teams and put themselves out of our reach. Players won't be let out in December and January because of the fixture pile-up and there are players we're talking to at the minute.

"Please don't think we haven't got an idea about the plan. We've just been very unlucky."