JOHN ASKEY has insisted that York City “are not far off being a full squad” as injured players continue to work towards their return.

York have been without Paddy McLaughlin for the entire 2022/23 season so far due to a hip injury.

Defender Michael Duckworth has been absent since picking up an injury against Woking while Manny Duku and Fraser Kerr picked up knocks in the games against Notts County and FC Halifax Town respectively.

“Fraser shouldn’t be far off, we’ll have a look at him before the game (against Dagenham),” said City manager John Askey. “It was only a slight pull for Fraser.

“Michael Duckworth has trained (on Monday) and Paddy’s not far off. We’re not far off being a full squad.”

Manny Duku is also making a strong recovery and could be included in the City squad to face Dagenham, who the Minstermen take on tomorrow (7.45pm) at the LNER Community Stadium.

“Manny is back running and back working with us,” said first-team coach Kingsley James.

“He joined in training (on Friday), so he should be available for Tuesday night, but we didn’t feel he was fit enough to make the squad (against Torquay).”

York have also been without defender Adam Crookes since August, when he came off the pitch with an ankle injury in the 2-1 defeat to Maidstone United.

“Both of them are doing really well, both of them are back running and both of them are feeling good and feeling strong,” noted first-team coach Kingsley James on both McLaughlin and Crookes.

“It’s going to be a gradual increase with those two and we’ll try and get them back as quickly as possible without pushing them too much and causing a setback.”

The absence of Kerr saw York revert to their 4-3-3 formation against Torquay, a game they won 1-0, emphasising the versatility of City’s players and their adaptation to different systems.

“(Kerr being available) gives us options,” noted Askey.

“We’ve got more than one way of playing and if we feel against Dagenham that we’d be better suited to play with three at the back, then we will do.

“But it’s just nice to have the players who are capable of changing in and out of systems.”

The Minstermen have struggled with injuries already this season, with at least one player seemingly absent at any given point in the campaign.

Now though, it appears City will soon be back to their complete strength.

When asked if York are in a good position with their squad, Askey replied: “It will be if that’s the case when they do finally get back, especially around October/November time.

“Obviously, they’ve got to get up to fitness, with not having a reserve team as most clubs haven’t now, it’s whether you look to send them out on loan to get fitness, like we’ve done with Scott Burgess, or whether you keep them in and keep training them as hard as possible.”