LUKE SIMPSON intends to bring a Premier League mentality to York City after spending six months with Watford last season.

The 21-year-old keeper was given his Minstermen debut during Saturday’s 2-1 defeat at Forest Green after being preferred between the sticks to Scott Flinders.

Having made a couple of impressive saves, Simpson was expected to retain his place for Woking’s visit to Bootham Crescent this weekend even before Flinders was hit with a five-match FA ban for racial abuse, followed by a club suspension.

And, in the absence of his number one rival, the youngster is hoping to continue drawing on his experience with the top-flight Hornets to make big strides in the National League.

Simpson rubbed shoulders with international shot-stoppers Heurelho Gomes (Brazil), Costel Pantilimon (Romania) and Giedrius Arlauskis (Lithuania) at Vicarage Road, while also working for former Leeds, Liverpool and Australia attacker Harry Kewell.

The Heywood-born net-minder turned down the chance of a contract extension with Sky Bet League Two outfit Accrington before going on to join Watford and reckons his career will benefit from that stint in Hertfordshire.

He said: “Watford’s under-21s manager Harry Kewell needed a keeper and I went in and did really well against some top players and clubs, which was good. I still speak to both him and (goalkeeper coach) Alec Chamberlain and they are brilliant men.

“Watford was one of the best things that could have happened to me before coming here because, if you’re at a Premier League club, you have to be clever and study the players’ mannerisms and attitudes to see what it takes to make it at that level.

"It’s where everybody wants to be and I know what to do, so it’s just about going out and doing it now.”

Simpson also spent the final six months of the 2013/14 campaign with last season’s shock Premier League champions Leicester, where he pitted himself against a striker now regarded as one of the country’s deadliest.

“I was there the season when they got promoted from the Championship,” Simpson explained. “At the time, I didn’t think Jamie Vardy would go on to do what he has done and I just tried to save his shots in training, which I did, but it was difficult.”

Simpson’s new challenge, though, is to keep his place in City’s team long-term, and he is not under-estimating the size of that task.

"As a keeper, you get punished for the littlest thing," he said. "But I’m enjoying working with Craig (Hinchliffe), who is one of the best goalkeeping coaches I’ve worked with. I will graft this week like I always do and live, sleep, eat and recover properly to make sure I’m the guy who gets picked, and that’s down to me."

The former Oldham reserve admitted his first senior outing for City was overshadowed by Matt Tubbs’ stoppage-time spot-kick winner for Forest Green, but added that the visitors’ performance gave him encouragement for the rest of the campaign.

“My debut could have gone better, because we should have finished with three points or at least one, which was very disappointing and a bit gutting because we had a good chance to put right the wrongs of Gateshead,” he said.

“But, for their penalty, Shaun Rooney said him and their player were pulling each other, so it could have gone either way.

“When the chips are down, those decisions go the opposition’s way. I then fancied myself to save the penalty, but it was a good finish by a confident player who is pretty well-known for the career he’s had.

“But we didn’t deserve to lose and, if we can take the performance into the rest of our games, we will be a real force. We’re only five games in and it’s a long season, so it’s important we take Saturday’s positives into our next two games.”

Simpson also revealed he planned to help his team launch breaks from quick restarts if he continues in goal, pointing out: “We’ve got a lot of pace up top.

“Little Aidan (Connolly) is a quality player and Jake Wright is quick as well. Big Brodes (Richard Brodie) is more of a target man, but Daniel Nti showed his lightning pace at the end and there’s Kaine Felix too so, if we can catch people on the counter attack, that could get us ten goals over a season, which might be the difference between going up or staying in the division.”