DIPO AKINYEMI is back in training for York City, with goalkeeper David Stockdale likely to start the Emirates FA Cup first round clash with Chester on Saturday (3pm).

An injury in the FA Cup fourth qualifying round victory over Needham Market saw Akinyemi absent from the York squad for the past two weeks, with the striker playing a key part in City’s season so far.

However, manager Neal Ardley has confirmed that Akinyemi is back in the fold, but the Chester match may come too soon for the talisman.

Stockdale is also set for a return in the cup after a full week in training, whilst Dan Batty and Scott Burgess look set for a spell on the sidelines.

“Dipo has joined in today, that was his first day.” Ardley confirmed.

“He’s been out just over two weeks now, he’s trained today and done a little bit of work with the physio over the start of the week and has built it steadily up, and was given the go-ahead to join in training today.

“Fingers crossed we have no reaction to training today, and we go again.

“I’ve got a choice to make with what I do with him and whether I want to risk him.

“Anyone who has watched us play this season knows how important he is, and with Dan Batty in midfield, whose another good player.

“To not have them available for two and a half weeks, you can see the team has not struggled, but it’s been tougher for the team without two good players.

“Dan will be another ten days to two weeks, but certainly having Dipo back with his goals, his assists, his pace and his power is going to be a massive plus. I’ve got to make the right decision.

“Scotty Burgess is ill, he’s been sick during the night and phoned in, so he didn’t train and is the only real major concern.

“We’ve had a couple with little niggles that joined in training today.

“Other than that, David Stockdale has been back in training for the week, he’s had a good full week of training so that is good for us as well.

“There’s no news on any of the other injuries coming back.”

Ardley also updated supporters on the progress of defender Levi Andoh, who is dealing with a long-term injury after suffering a back fracture in the early stages of the Vanarama National League season.

“He’s starting to do some straight line running.

“When you fracture your back it’s got to be a slow process, he’s coming up to the 12 weeks now.

“It’s going to take a while, when you have 12 weeks without doing any upper body weights, you’ve got to be careful because there’s a fracture there.

“The moment you start pushing your body, you’ll end up with a hamstring or a glute and that’s the hard thing coming back from injuries.

“You get the first injury right, but it’s harder to respond.”

The City boss is also pleased with the work both George Sykes-Kenworthy and Olly Green have done on the training pitch after joining the club last week.

“They’re great lads, George was excellent last week and was really calm.

“George can’t play this weekend as he’s cup-tied, and the thing you’ve got to remember with George is that he’s coming to full-time training now, so he’ll get stronger over the next month and we’ve got to put a plan in place for his training regime.

“Olly has come in and even in training on Tuesday, you could see he was feeling the pace of training.

“I spoke to him about it and he said that they don’t train at the intensity at the under-23’s, there’s a lot more shape, it’s more tactical and there’s a lot more individual development.

“All of a sudden the intensity of training was making him really gasp for breath, which is good, because he will only get stronger from that.”