YORK City Knights will give Matty Marsh and Corey Johnson as much time as possible to prove their fitness for this weekend's clash with Whitehaven.

York's options through the spine of the team remain limited after injuries picked up by Brendan O'Hagan and Kriss Brining in the defeat at Featherstone while coronavirus protocols continue to rule out Aidan McGowan, Kieran Dixon and Jason Bass, all of whom can play full-back.

Marsh and Johnson both picked up knocks at the Millennium Stadium but head coach James Ford is hopeful that they will be able to play on Sunday.

“Matty Marsh and Corey Johnson didn’t train on Tuesday, Marshy with a groin strain, Corey with a back issue," Ford reported.

“We’re hopeful that both will recover and we’ll give them right until the back end of the week to make our decisions on them.

“It’s not ideal but these kind of things are sent to test us and we’ve just got to bat on. We’re still looking forward to playing a really good Whitehaven team.”

Asked about his current options through the spine of the team , Ford replied: “Will Jubb is fit, as he is pretty much every week.

"Danny Washbrook will be available following on from his Covid isolation.

“And at full-back, there’s Ben Jones-Bishop or Myles Harrison.”

Elsewhere on the injury front, Ford confirmed that several players will miss out this weekend following the bruising defeat at Featherstone which saw numerous players taken off hurt.

Ford said: “Tim Spears has broken his ribs and we suspect that Adam Cuthbertson has broken his ribs but it might be a rib cartilage injury.

"We’ll see how that settles down but he certainly won’t be included this week.

“Jordan Baldwinson is struggling with a back injury and he is unlikely to play this week.

“For Kriss Brining, the good news is that he hasn’t broken his ankle but he’s got a bad sprain, it’s pretty swollen and he’s struggling to walk. He won’t play this week.

“Brendan O’Hagan has had a reoccurance of a quad issue. He had a scan on Tuesday and he won’t feature this week."

There is better news in regards to back-rowers, with Ford positive surrounding the availability of James McDonnell, Danny Kirmond, Marcus Stock and new loanee Jacob Gannon.

“James McDonnell has had some treatment and managed to train on Tuesday, which is promising," added the coach.

“Danny is hopeful. He’s done plenty of hamstring rehab and took part in the session on Tuesday.

“We’ll see how Danny goes this week and then see if he’s a chance (of playing) for us.

“Stocky is out of isolation and trained on Tuesday and is available for selection, all being well.

“Jacob is a good kid who can play with the ball in the middle and has potential to be a good player.

“In these kind of circumstances, when we’re a little busted, to bring in someone to give us additional options is a good thing.”

Ford also revealed that centre Corey Hall, who was recalled by Leeds Rhinos earlier this week, could still feature for York this weekend, should he not be selected for his parent club's game against Huddersfield Giants.

Speaking ahead of the Leeds-Huddersfield match, Ford said: “I’ve spoken to Richard Agar and if Leeds don’t play him then there’s still a chance that we could use him on Sunday.

"If Leeds make him unavailable then I’d like to include Corey.”