York City's Dipo Akinyemi to return for final two matches

Akinyemi’s recent injury struggles look to hopefully be coming to an end with the York attacker back in contention to take on Solihull Moors at the LNER Community Stadium on Saturday (3pm), having recently faced problems with a calf injury.

Manager Adam Hinshelwood has confirmed that he plans to have Akinyemi back in the matchday squad, but starting from the bench, with the 27-year-old expected to be used as an impact sub in the final two matches of the normal season.

The City boss raved about the impact which Akinyemi will have on the rest of the squad, with Hinshelwood hoping he can influence York’s final two matches in a positive manner.

“Dipo is a bit further along, we sort of treated him more in a case where we could have him as an impact sub in the final two games,” Hinshelwood confirmed.

“He’ll definitely be available for that, which is great news.

“He probably won’t be able to start in either of those games, which is a bit disappointing, but to have him back in the group and as an option for us is massive.

“It’s massive to have him around the changing room and on the pitch as well.

“The impact at Rochdale when we brought on Junior [Luamba], Dipo and Stonesy [Josh Stones] all together, the physicality that they brought to the game at that stage was massive for us.

“He was excellent then, had a bit of a setback, and hopefully he can come back even better and more hungry to show what he’s about.”

Hinshelwood also revealed his plans to ease Akinyemi back into the York set-up after recent hiatus’ through injuries, comparing the programme to what defender Adam Crookes has recently been undergoing.

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The York manager plans to use Akinyemi from the bench but to also force him onto the field, to ensure that the attacker can remain sharp ahead of a likely play-off campaign.

Hinshelwood added: “It’ll be the same as what we’ve done with Crookesy, we want as big of a pull as possible about us going into the final games of the season and into a play-off campaign.

“You want your big players to be available, and as many of them available as we can [have].

“Dipo is a big one and Crookesy is a big one, we’ve probably forced Crookesy onto the pitch and we will do the same with Dipo to make sure that they are up to speed.

“We’ll give them as many minutes as they need so that they are ready to go for us.”

Another player approaching his return to York contention is that of defender Ryan Fallowfield, who was initially ruled out for the remainder of the season after struggling with a hamstring injury.

Ryan Fallowfield is edging closer to a return after some light running. (Image: Tom Poole) Fallowfield was spotted doing some light pre-match running rituals prior to York’s 1-1 draw with Oldham Athletic on Monday, and despite Hinshelwood’s initial hopes for the defender, he’s not expected to be back available for at least another three weeks.

“This is a conversation I had with the physio actually only the other day. He joined in with a bit of the warm-up as well, he’s integrated with the group and he’s been doing some running,” the City boss said on Fallowfield.

“I think that back in the day, you would have just got chucked in.

“I was saying this to the physio, I did my first run after being out with an ACL [injury] and the manager was asking how long I was going to be.

“When you see the player there and integrated, your natural thing is that they are not too far away, but he’s still quite a way off.

“He did a little bit of running the other day and felt a little bit of tightness, but that’s how they like to treat the hamstrings now, to get them out and get them running.

“They say it’s a safe mechanism for them to run, it’s not going to pull too much strain.

“He won’t be doing any backheels or anything like that, because that might put it under a bit more strain.

“It’s weird, you see a player that is integrated with the team and is running and you think that he can’t be that far away, but his rehab won’t change, so probably another three weeks or so.”

Fallowfield’s injury is where York’s list of setbacks stops, with Hinshelwood confirming that the defender was City’s only unavailable player at this current moment.

Hinshelwood would go on to praise the work of the medical team, saying: “No, only Ryan, other than that it is a clean bill of health. That’s unbelievable at this stage of the season, Sam [Mannings] and Olly [Parker] on the medical side have done brilliant with that.

“I think that having the trust with them and listening to them has really helped as well.

“I do listen to them, there’s times when it’s not what I want to hear because we want everyone fit and available.”