Top ten tilt thrills York City boss (From York Press)

Top ten tilt thrills York City boss Gary Mills

12:00pm Tuesday 23rd October 2012 in Sport By Dave Flett, Sports reporter

York City manager Gary Mills

YORK City manager Gary Mills is challenging his team to climb back into League Two’s top-ten positions ahead of tonight’s trip to Accrington Stanley.

The Minstermen currently lie 12th in the table after Saturday’s 3-2 home win over Dagenham & Redbridge but just three points currently separate the sixth and 18th-placed teams in the division.

Mills’ team, despite drawing six of their 13 fixtures, are just one point behind the final play-off position and the City chief knows this evening’s match represents a good opportunity to climb further up the standings.

He said: “We’re a point off the play-offs and four off automatic promotion so it just goes to show that you should never be disappointed with a point and a draw at this stage of the season.

“We’ve done excellently and those points have given us an opportunity to maybe get back in the top ten tonight.

“We are going to Accrington with confidence and a good away record and, hopefully, we can get another three points like against Dagenham on Saturday but, if it’s one, that will be okay as well.”

Accrington were thumped 5-0 at Oxford at the weekend but Mills has warned his team to expect a backlash following that result.

He added: “You always want to bounce back after a result like that to prove it was a one-off. We did that when we lost 4-0 to Coventry and then put in a good performance to get a draw at Bradford.

“They will be looking to put things right and we’ve got to make sure they don’t.

“It would be great to beat them by the same scoreline but maybe that’s dream world going away from home and 1-0 would be absolutely fantastic for me.”

City are unlikely to make any changes from the side that started Saturday’s match with Dan Parslow expected to continue at right-back while Lanre Oyebanjo continues his comeback from a thigh injury by training with the youth team today.

On utility man Parslow’s performance against Dagenham, Mills said: “I thought he did reasonably well. It was another change in position for him but he was steady.”

Mills will choose, meanwhile, from 12 fit senior professionals to fill his bench.

Chris Doig, Lee Bullock, Oli Johnson, Charlie Taylor and the transfer-listed Michael Potts were left out completely on Saturday with Mills admitting his squad might need trimming.

He said: “You have to get your subs right for every game and it’s not just a case of putting seven on there.

“Sometimes it’s an easy decision, sometimes it’s more difficult.

“I don’t like to see five or six players sat in the stand and there are players who need to get out on loan to play.

“We’ve maybe got two or three more than I’d possibly want but we’re trying to address that.”