John Askey heads into a double-header weekend hoping one or two fringe players can help shoot down the Harriers and slay the Dragons.

Macclesfield Town host Kidderminster tomorrow without striker Chris Holroyd, whose hamstring injury saw him miss Saturday's goalless draw at Woking, and most likely without the experience of Danny Whitaker in the midfield, who's suffering with a back problem.

Askey has already twice been unable to fill his substitutes' bench this season, and can ill afford to lose a number of front-line players at this – or any other – stage, with a trip to Wrexham to come on Monday.

But he's also looking to others to make their mark, such as Arthur Gnahoua and David Gonzalez.

Gnahoua's now in his third season with the Silkmen but hasn't been able to force his way into getting regular action and has a single strike for the club to his name.

Now, after a decent outing in his first start of the season at the Cardinals, Askey is challenging him to fill the Holroyd-shaped gap in attack and show what he can do.

“Arthur's got a chance now but he needs games,” he said. “We all know he's got ability but it's whether he can put that ability into matches. You can see his understanding of the game is coming on, hopefully he'll be able to show that talent.

“When the pitches get a little bit slicker it'll help him, we hope he'll do well.

“We're very light on the bench, we had a 19-year-old, two 18-year-olds and Ritchie (Branagan), who's in his early twenties, at Woking.

“We haven't really got a squad, I've enquired about one or two loan deals but people are asking crazy money for our league. All we can do is keep asking, like we did when we brought in Luke (Waterfall), so hopefully we can get another couple in.”

As far as the centre of midfield goes, the absence of another local lad in Whitaker would be a huge blow for Askey. With Wilmslow's finest excelling alongside captain Paul Turnbull and youth graduate Paul Lewis it's been a strong area for Macc over the course of their two wins and a draw.

And Askey is hoping his Spanish capture, former Under-17 European championship winner David Gonzalez, can take the chance to shine, should Whitaker miss out on Saturday or Monday.

“David had to go back to Spain to sort his papers out, there was a problem with his passport,” added the manager. “But he's back now and he should be OK to stay with us at least until Christmas. He's played a lot of football and he's someone who doesn't give the ball away cheaply.
“We'll have to watch how we go in training because we've a tough weekend to come and we can't afford to get injuries.

“Kidderminster and Wrexham are both teams looking to get promotion this season. They're both big clubs for this level and both have spent money so we're in for two tough games but if we can show the same determination we did at Woking we'll give ourselves a good chance.”