INJURED York City full-backs Scott Barrow and Michael Duckworth could both be out for more than a month yet, says manager Steve Watson.

City lost Barrow to an Achilles injury pre-season, while Duckworth went down with a hamstring injury in Saturday’s win over Chester.

In their absence, York have been playing a makeshift back line, with midfielders Paddy McLaughlin and Sam Fielding deputising for Barrow and Duckworth, respectively, in Tuesday night’s defeat at Boston.

Asked about Duckworth’s recovery, Watson said: “He’s probably on the same sort of timescale as Scotty Barrow, though Scotty’s obviously been out longer and will take longer to get back to match fitness.

“They’re probably both looking at at least another month.

“It’s a bitter blow as well because I thought Saturday was Duckworth’s best game for us this season. He looked the complete right-back.

“Then you’re dealt with that.”

More positively for York, the centre of their defence is starting to fill out again. Club captain Sean Newton, who picked up a knee injury in August, has come on as a substitute in both of City’s last two games.

At Boston, he was brought on as an attacker for the final few minutes.

“We thought we’d throw Sean on at the end because we were going that bit more direct, trying to get bodies into the box and trying to get something to break for us,” added Watson.

“You want it to drop to him if that happens, or if we win a free kick around the edge of the box.”