ADAM Hinshelwood has confirmed the extent of Dipo Akinyemi’s injury – with it currently being undecided whether he will play again this season.
Akinyemi was an unfortunate casualty of York City’s 2-1 defeat to Sutton United two weeks ago, having suffered what appeared to be a twisted knee.
The striker braved the pain to play through that injury, and even went on to score a late consolation strike.
Hinshelwood previously reported that Akinyemi would be seeing a specialist for his knee injury last Thursday, but further examinations have shown that, whilst no surgery is required, the striker has unfortunately suffered a partial anterior cruciate ligament injury.
“It’s a partial ACL tear. It’s only a partial one, so it hasn’t completely gone, we’re happy with how the knee is and he won’t require surgery, which is good,” Hinshelwood confirmed after City’s 2-1 win over Dagenham & Redbridge.
“It’s 12 weeks, so he’ll be right on the border for the last month of the season and it’s something for us to monitor and look at.
“With that on the cusp, it gives Dipo an extra incentive to work as hard as he possibly can to get back.
“We won’t put that pressure on him or rush him back before the end of the season, but it’s a bit of a target there for him.
“We’re hoping it all goes well and he can keep on progressing.”
York were reduced to ten men in the 84th minute of that win over Dagenham, with striker and top scorer Ollie Pearce being shown a second yellow card.
Pearce’s sending off means he will miss next Saturday’s match against Neal Ardley’s Woking at the LNER Community Stadium, as part of a one match suspension.
Hinshelwood believes that this will give an opportunity to another one of York’s strikers to lead the line, with Josh Stones, Lenell John-Lewis and new addition Lewis Richardson available.
“Well we had two yellow cards today for handball and it irritates me.
“It’s soft, and it’s cost us now because we’re going to be missing Ollie for a game.
"There’s no need for it, he doesn’t have to handball it.
“It’s not what I want to see from my team and hopefully harsh lessons will be learned by the player serving his suspension.
“It’s an opportunity for someone, we’ve now identified the squad and where we were potentially lacking.
“We’ve got two wingers in to give Ty [Sinclair] and Ash [Nathaniel-George] a bit of competition, and we’ve got Lenny and Josh who can come in up top and give a bit of competition as well.
“We’ve got some options there, which is what you want at this stage of the season.
“I just felt that we was lacking a little bit with the squad depth, so I’m pleased that we were able to recruit and get people in.”
Whilst Burnley loanee Richardson is an option to fill the hole left by Pearce, Hinshelwood sees the young attacker as an option for the wing along with fellow new signing Junior Luamba.
“He can play anywhere in the top line, similarly to Ash where he can roll in and pick up those pockets and half spaces as a number ten for us.
“He’s a really clever player, it’s exciting for a really intelligent player at such a young lad.
“We’re just hoping that he can stay fit and contribute a lot for us.”
