YORK City Knights have recalled forwards James Green and Tim Spears to their squad after injury ahead of their visit to Dewsbury Rams this weekend.

Green missed out on last week's thrashing of Swinton Lions with a hip problem while Spears has been absent since the Betfred Challenge Cup defeat to Wigan Warriors due to a calf injury.

The pair are back in the Knights 21-man squad for the trip to the Tetley's Stadium on Sunday (7.30pm) and that should provide a further boost to head coach James Ford's options in the forwards, particularly after the welcome returns of Jordan Baldwinson, Danny Kirmond and Chris Clarkson last weekend.

York's other injury concerns also seem set to be available sooner rather than later. Half-back Brendan O'Hagan, hooker Kriss Brining, centre Tyme Dow-Nikau and winger Perry Whiteley are all expected to be available for next week's Betfred Championship fixture with Featherstone Rovers.

Joe Porter and Joe Keyes are not in the squad to face Dewsbury having been absent from the Swinton game because of a head knock and a back problem respectively.

“As I keep saying, we’re not far from being in a really healthy spot, but we’re not quite there yet," said Ford. "We’ve a couple of niggles from impact injuries from the weekend to a couple of players but we’ll see how they respond to the treatment this week.

“Whatever 17 we field, it’ll be a strong 17."

Positive news also surrounds long-term injury absentee Morgan Smith who reported on social media earlier this week that "everything (is) on track as expected" following surgery after his ACL injury.

Ford reported: “With an ACL injury, there’s different markers that you need to hit throughout the recovery.

“Morgan is a really professional young man and he’s really ripping into his rehab and initial signs are really positive. But we’ll take it stage by stage.

“What we need to focus on is keeping Morgan involved, because he’s got a part to play in what we do this season, for sure. We want to help him become fit, healthy and more of a robust young man.”

York head to Dewsbury on the back of a 64-16 victory at Swinton in their last outing. While happy with much of what he saw against the Lions, Ford insists that the Rams, particularly on home soil, will provide a markedly different proposition.

Ford said: “It will be a different challenge for us this week. The Swinton field was rock hard and incredibly wide while the Dewsbury field is very narrow and short.

“The two teams play incredibly differently. Dewsbury are very north-south, run and tackle hard and they complete high and finish in corners.

“Swinton are a very lateral team that look to play around you and challenge you with their shifts.

“Yes, we want more of the same in terms of the execution. But the actual equations we’ll be faced with will be different.”

Assessing the strengths of Dewsbury, Ford added: “They’re got two experienced half-backs (Paul Sykes, 39, and Liam Finn, 37), they don’t make a lot of errors and they run and tackle hard.

“They play really effectively on their field, they kick high and try and reduce your opportunities from kick returns.

“I can see why they’ve got a great record at Dewsbury and we’re expecting a very intense physical encounter at the weekend.”

York City Knights squad: Marsh, Bass, Salter, Atkins, K Dixon, R Dixon, Jubb, Clarkson, Scott, Cuthbertson, Baldwinson, Stock, Kirmond, Green, Spears, Jones-Bishop, Barcoe, Washbrook, Dean, Aydin, Wynne.

Elsewhere, York have confirmed the kick-off times for rounds five and six of the Championship season. The Knights host Featherstone on Sunday, May 9 at 7.30pm.

York then travel to Widnes Vikings on Sunday, May 16 at 3pm.