Long-term casualty Luke Dean may have only a month to win himself another City contract.

The 19-year-old midfielder, who joined the club’s centre of excellence in 2002, is slowly recovering from the broken leg he suffered in the opening pre-season friendly against Eccleshill in July.

He has got rid of the cast and is now able to walk freely again but the specialist has warned him that it might be December before he is able to get involved in full-contact football again.

With his short-term current deal expiring the following month, that will not give him much time to convince boss Peter Taylor.

Dean, though, plans to beat the doctor’s deadline and is confident that he will get ample opportunity to push his case for a new contract. “The doctor told me it would be Christmas but hopefully I can push myself in another eight weeks,” he said.

“It’s been very difficult because they said it would take six weeks before I could put any weight on it and now it’s still another few.

“But then hopefully I’ll be able to get jogging and take it on from there.

“When I got the six-month contract, I knew I needed to prove myself. I thought I was doing well at the start of pre-season and then the injury happened.

“But I’m still hoping to earn myself another contract when I get back. The gaffer’s told me to keep my head up, get on with the rehab’ and hopefully I’ll get back on the training pitch as soon as possible.”

The strong tackle on Dean from Eccleshill’s Mick Baker provoked a furious reaction from Taylor at the time.

But the teenager takes a philosophical view and said: “You get that sort of thing in football. I’ve just got to get on with it now and look to get back. It hasn’t put me off at all.

“The first four weeks were boring and I was stuck at home playing PS3. But now at least I can come in (the club) and get on with my gym work.

“It feels better because at least you’re doing something. I’ve just got to keep working on it until I can get back on the training pitch and show what I can do.”