TWO of Warrington Town’s summer signings will miss the start of the new season through injury, manager Paul Carden has confirmed.

Defenders Shaun Beeley and Jack Higgins, who recently joined the club from Barrow and York City respectively, are both suffering from knee injuries.

Centre-half Higgins’ knock was known when he arrived at Cantilever Park, but full-back Beeley picked up his injury during Saturday’s 2-1 friendly victory over Atherton Collieries.

“I’m hoping to have them both available by late August or early September,” Carden said.

“Shaun suffered a medial knee ligament injury on Saturday. That’s usually six weeks out.

“It’s a blow, but Shaun is the kind of character who will dedicate himself to getting back as quickly as possible.

“He’s under the care of a good physio he knows from his spell at Morecambe, so he’s in good hands.

“We knew Jack would probably be missing for the start of the season anyway with his injury.

“He’s being seen to by one of Burnley’s physios and he’s making sure everything is done right.

“Like Shaun, Jack is someone who will stick to a recovery plan religiously to get back playing in a certain time.”

Despite injuries stretching his defence, Carden believes he has enough bodies to cover the absence of Beeley.

However, the Yellows boss says he is still looking for reinforcements in defence, with a left-back his immediate priority.

Another player currently recovering from injury is midfielder Ged Kinsella, who is on the mend after a serious back injury, but Carden says he is still some way from a return to action.

“We’ve got Liam Goulding and Adam Carden who can play at right-back, so I think we will be okay there,” he said.

“I’m still looking for people to bring someone in, probably on the other side of the defence.

“That would have been the priority with or without the injuries to Shaun and Jack.

“Kinny has started jogging again and took part in a warm-up on Saturday, but you’ve got to remember he has not kicked a ball since Christmas.

“Even before that, he wasn’t in action a great deal so we are taking it nice and slowly with him.”

Following Saturday’s victory, which came about thanks to goals from Ruben Jerome and Sean Williams, Yellows’ pre-season campaign continued on Tuesday night with a 2-2 draw with Skelmersdale United.

Tony Gray and trialist Rory McKeown had given Yellows a 2-0 lead before they were pegged back Carden was clear about what he wants to see from his team in their remaining pre-season fixtures, starting at Colne on Tuesday.

“I want to see us get about the pitch and press more,” Carden said.

“We did it against Wrexham and in our first few friendlies, but on Saturday we just seemed to let Atherton play.

“When we did press, they couldn’t live with us, but good teams don’t sit off and let the opposition play.”