Accrington Stanley v Harrogate Town: 'Mystery' achilles issue rules out Sulphurites midfielder George Thomson

The 32-year-old, who weighed in with 18 goals and eight assists last term, was absent from the Sulphurites’ midweek Carabao Cup win at Lincoln City.

And Town boss Simon Weaver has confirmed that there is no chance that Thomson will be fit for Saturday’s fixture as the Wetherby Road outfit go in search of their first league points of the season.

"He woke up on Sunday morning after Saturday’s game against Bromley with a black and blue achilles,” Weaver explained.

"He found that very strange because there wasn’t any pain. Then, he tried to put his boot on the following day just to assess his chances for Tuesday’s game having had some treatment, and straight away he knew that it wasn’t right.

"We have had it scanned and there is no massive revealing of any rupture or anything torn, which is good news, but it is still a bit of a mystery. It’s coming from somewhere.

"When it comes to doing the more mobile stuff like hopping on it, jumping on it, he can’t do it. It’s a bit of a mystery, so the experts are saying just leave it for five days and come off it, which is hard for someone like Thommo, who is so proactive.

"But, we will have a look at it at the start of next week and hopefully it will have calmed down.”

Fellow midfielder Stephen Dooley, and defender Liam Gibson will also miss out at Accrington through injury, though both men have made good progress in recent days and Weaver is hopeful that they could return in time for Town’s trip to Colchester United on August 24.

The Sulphurites travel to Accrington following a mixed opening week of the 2024/25 campaign.

Beaten 2-0 at home following a worrying lacklustre performance against newly-promoted Bromley on Saturday, they bounced back in style on Tuesday evening, dumping League One Lincoln out of the Carabao Cup.

Stanley’s own form has been even worse than Harrogate’s – who failed to win any of their six pre-season friendlies.

John Doolan’s team lost all five of their warm-up games, then both of their two competitive openers, 4-1 at Doncaster Rovers, then 3-0 away to Tranmere Rovers in the Carabao Cup.

Kick-off at the Wham Stadium this Saturday is at 3pm.