HAMZA Bencherif was praised for his York City debut even if he was reaching for the headache tablets after an aerial examination against Barrow.

The 28-year-old defender, recruited from Wrexham, featured on the right side of a back three, with fellow loan signing Dan Parslow moving to the left.

Explaining the reason for that switch, City boss Gary Mills said: “There’s no bigger test than Barrow for a centre half because you know you will be taking Anadin on a Saturday night, but Hamza battled away and defended all the balls forward.

“We had to make a decision who to play on the left and it probably came down to choosing between two poor left foots and we felt that Pars’ was slightly better that Hamza’s. Seriously, Pars has been playing there for Cheltenham and he was happy to play there again.

“In an ideal world, you want a left-footer there, but it’s not a major thing to worry about. He can swing his left foot no problem and hit good balls up to the strikers.

"Pars never changes either and just plays well every week wherever you put him.”

Mills will now be monitoring the fitness of right-wing backs Shaun Rooney and Danny Holmes, who were both forced off against Barrow due to illness.

“Shaun Rooney is struggling with his ankle and Danny Holmes had a big lump in his groin, so both of our right backs came off injured,” Mills pointed out. “We’ll have to assess that and might have to bring somebody in.”