York City's latest loan acquisition Lee Andrews was plunged straight in at the deep end on Saturday just hours after meeting his new team-mates at the pre-match meal.

The 22-year-old defender put pen to paper on an initial one-month deal late on Friday without even training with the team, and was thrust into the starting line up in place of the injured James Dudgeon, who has been sidelined by a hamstring problem.

But awkward first meetings aside, Andrews is glad to be back in first team action after spending most of the year in the reserves at League Two Carlisle.

He said: "I went in to see the Carlisle manager (Paul Simpson) a couple of weeks ago to ask if I could go out on loan because reserve football is not the same as first team football, whatever level it's at.

"He circulated my name round and then I got a call from York City on Thursday night asking if I was interested."

And one of the attractions for the youngster, who has racked up more than 120 Football League appearances plus a season's worth in the Conference, was the fact that York are up there in the Conference table.

He said: "It was appealing to come here because it was the top half of the league so it's not that different to the football in League Two, plus it's nice to be involved at the top half - a lot of my career so far has been spent down at the wrong end."

Andrews has risen through the ranks at Carlisle after graduating from their youth set-up, but has found himself further down the pecking order this season on the back of a wave of new signings following Carlisle's bounce-back promotion to the League.

He said: "My main aim while I'm here is just to do as well as I can and then take it from there."

City boss Billy McEwan said of his debut: "The lad didn't even have a training session with us. He's come in at the deep end and acquitted himself well."

Andrews added: "I think it went okay. I wasn't outstanding but I didn't do too badly. It's difficult, especially when you go into a new club. If there's someone new joining your team you only have to learn one name, but when it's the other way round you have to learn at least ten others.

"I'm looking forward to getting to know the lads properly. You've got to learn about the players and little things like which foot do you pass back to the 'keeper with and that will all make a difference. And hopefully we'll get back to winning ways soon."

Updated: 09:26 Monday, November 14, 2005