York City boss casts doubt over Ollie Pearce inclusion for play-off

York could be without the National League’s top scorer on Tuesday night when Oldham Athletic visit a sold-out LNER Community Stadium, with the striker struggling with a slight hamstring injury.

Pearce had been an enforced substitution in City’s final match of the season at Eastleigh, albeit the Minstermen’s backroom staff initially believed it to be due to cramp.

However, there is now concern after Pearce admitted to be struggling with his hamstring during one of the in-house matches which York hosted at the LNER Community Stadium.

Hinshelwood explained: “The only sort of one is Ollie Pearce. He obviously came off with his hamstrings [against Eastleigh] and we thought it was just a bit of cramp, so he’s trained in the in-house game on Tuesday and has felt it slightly.

“He’s the only one we’ve got a bit of concern for really.

“It is just a bit of a concern, we thought it was his cramp but he felt it again in the in-house game and we’re hoping he’ll be alright.”

Should Pearce not come through any fitness tests for York, Hinshelwood could start one of Josh Stones, Lenell John-Lewis or Dipo Akinyemi in the striker role on Tuesday night.

The City boss has full confidence in his other options, with Akinyemi also showing progress in his recovery after recent struggles.

“Josh Stones, Lenny, Dipo can play up there. They’re different type of players but have got their own quality,” Hinshelwood dissected.

“We’ll have to see on Ollie, but if not, we’ve got a good squad.

“He’s [Akinyemi] doing well, he played a bit longer in the in-house game we had on Tuesday than we probably wanted him to.

“We’re really pleased with how he’s gone.”

Ryan Fallowfield is York’s only other notable injury concern, having not been involved in a City squad for their last six matches of the normal season through a hamstring injury.

The right-back is ‘not too far away’, with Hinshelwood admitting that he has a decision to make on whether Fallowfield will be deemed ready to be involved.

He confirmed: “[Ryan is doing] good, I don’t think he’s too far away. He’s not trained too much, but he’s pushing us all of the time to be fit, ready and raring to go.

“We’ve got a bit of a decision to make there on Ryan.”

Should York’s match with Oldham be all square after 90 minutes, City could be forced to play into extra-time, adding an additional 30 minutes on the clock before a potential penalty shootout.

Extra-time means that Hinshelwood would be allowed to make an additional substitution, with York able to make six of their seven should they wish to, but only after the conclusion of normal time.

Hinshelwood will therefore be carefully considering all of the possible outcomes of the makeshift of his squad, thinking about potential injuries and scorelines which could see changes made to his team.

“I don’t think we’re blessed with numbers, so I don’t think it’ll change too much will the squad, in terms of what we’ve got available to us,” he explained.

“You’ve got to take all of those scenarios into place, having enough defenders if you are leading the game, and especially knowing that Oldham have an aerial threat, knowing that there are players coming back from injury and might not have the full game in them.

“We try take all of those situations into consideration.”

Practice has also taken place on penalties, with Hinshelwood wary of whether the match will have to be decided by spot kicks.

The City squad, when training at the LNER Community Stadium, did so with the addition of crowd noise through the speakers, so that the players could potentially face similar pressures to what they might on Tuesday night.

“We’ve tried to practice, we don’t want to leave any stone unturned.

“We tried to re-create it in the stadium and we were very lucky that they were able to put a bit of crowd noise in for us on the Tuesday, when we had an in-house game.

“It’s good of them to do that as we wanted to re-create it, the walk and everything like that.

“We practice it but we don’t want to think too much about it. Ultimately if it does come down to that, we’re prepped up for it.

“We got everyone to have a go, there’s some good ones and some surprises in there that tucked it away.

“I think the first time we practiced them, the goalkeepers were on absolute fire and didn’t let many in. Their confidence got high from that.

“It’s all good practice, obviously neither team wants it go that far and we’ll both be looking to get it done in the 90, but at the same time we want to be prepared if it is needed.”