A brand new era begins at York City this weekend with freshly-installed manager Martin Gray and sporting director Dave Penney overseeing team affairs following the dismissal of predecessor Gary Mills and his assistant Darren Caskey.
Previously a tenacious midfielder with Oxford United and Sunderland, Gray arrives with a noted reputation of ‘incredible singular drive and passion’; and an accompanying track record of three promotions and a couple of play-off finishes during his five-and-a-half years at former club Darlington.
He’ll obviously massively require those kind of qualities to revive a club suffering recent back-to-back relegations and then too regularly underperforming in their first-ever season at level six, despite a current positioning of seventh.
The Minstermen had kicked off their latest campaign as clear second-favourites for the title, but a dreadful inconsistency has since continued to plague their efforts and left them already seriously playing catch-up with a fraction over a quarter of the season completed.
Brackley have lost just one of their previous twenty-three games – and that to title favourites Salford City; although they are actually without a victory in their last five league outings.
“We’re going to play very high-tempo, attacking football,” manager Martin Gray told BBC Radio York. “We want to excite the crowd and give them something to shout about. It’s going to be a tough game because Brackley are a very, very good team in this league. They’ve done ever so well this season – in the FA Cup as well.
“Last season they should have probably finished in the play-offs,” he continued. “The big FA Cup run they had probably hampered them towards the back end of the season. It won’t be an easy game but is a game we’re really looking forward to. We’re at home and have got to make sure we put in a fantastic performance with loads of energy.”
New signing David Ferguson appears guaranteed to start, especially with left-back Alex Whittle carrying a slight groin problem. But fellow defender Josh Law has recovered from a similar condition while previously out-of-favour Aidan Connolly may come into contention. Striker Michael Rankine remains out following recent high blood pressure.
York City (from): Worsnop, Law, Parslow, Bencherif, Ferguson, Heslop, Moke, Wharton, Newton, Almond, Morgan-Smith, Parkin, Felix, Muggleton, Sukar, Smith, Simpson, Connolly
Highly-rated England ‘C’ captain and top scorer at Darlington before his move.
Leading goalscorer Jimmy Armson remains an injury doubt for the visitors in an otherwise fully available squad.
Brackley Town (possible): Lewis, Lowe, Gudger, S. Byrne, Graham, Dean, G. Walker, J. Byrne, Ndlovu, A. Williams A. Walker
subs: Diggin, Franklin, Tilney, Myles, Brown
Former York centre-back making a return to Bootham Crescent.
A single previous meetings of the clubs back in Febuary, York winning an FA Trophy quarter-final 1-0 courtesy of Jon Parkin.
Link: Red Rewind – City scrape through to last four
York – Leamington (A); Brackley – Billericay Town (FAC4QR) (H)
Weekend Games: AFC Telford v Boston; Alfreton v Chorley; Blyth v Nuneaton; Bradford PA v Kidderminster; Curzon Ashton v Harrogate; Darlington v Stockport; North Ferriby v FC United of Manchester; Salford v Leamington; Southport v Spennymoor; Tamworth v Gainsborough; York City v Brackley