Fit-again Lanre Oyebanjo in contention for York City's big home clash against Maidstone

Oyebanjo, 26, has only played four times for the Minstermen since returning to the club in the summer from Crawley, where he only managed seven games last term.

Calf and knee problems have curtailed his progress this season but Gary Mills believes double-Wembley winner Oyebanjo is ready to recapture the form he showed in his first spell for the club after being cajoled back on to the training field by the City boss.

“I’m pleased for Lanre and myself because he’s looked like the exact same player that I knew from before in training this week and, touch wood, that will continue now,” Mills said. “He’s had a bad time of it with injuries and, sometimes, that can drag you down and it becomes a mental thing, where you’re waiting for something else to happen.

“I had a chat with him and told him I will take the blame if something happens, because he wasn’t going to train, but I encouraged him in my way. We’ve only got 17 outfield players available now, so there’s a good chance he will be involved (against Maidstone) and, if he trains tomorrow, like he has been doing, he might even start.”

The recurrence of Aidan Connolly’s hamstring and Luke Woodland’s release after he was required back in the Philippines for “family reasons,” has left the Minstermen with reduced numbers on the back of Johan ter Horst’s recall by Hull City.

But Mills does not feel tempted to dip back into the transfer market, pointing out: “We’re down to 17 in the squad and two keepers, but I love that because, with these players, we are in a good place and I won’t be getting a body in for them to sit on the bench or in the stand.

“If somebody comes in, they’ve got to be better than or just as good as what we have got.”

Jon Parkin, meanwhile, is back after serving a one-match suspension during the 3-0 FA Trophy triumph at Nuneaton but Mills insisted that his return in place of last weekend’s deputy Scott Fenwick is not a foregone conclusion, with the Bootham Crescent chief reasoning: “Scotty did really well at Nuneaton.

“Maybe people thought he was one of those who was going to go out on loan or train with the youth team, but I never saw that happening. He’s worked hard since I came in and he’s a good lad in the dressing room.

“Jon has been immense for us since he came in, so people might be thinking it’s a case of him in and Fenners out, but we’ll see who’s on the team sheet at 2pm.”

Maidstone were City’s opening day hosts when the teams drew 1-1 in Kent but, with only three of the players who started that match – Alex Whittle, Simon Heslop and Yan Klukowski – expected to feature in the return fixture, Mills believes his team are in better shape to collect maximum points.

“It’s a new squad, a new team, a new feeling, a new outlook, a new belief and a new positivity,” he declared. “It’s been hard work getting to that point and I couldn’t have done it without the chairman, because he’s been unbelievable since I came back in.

“He’s allowed me to do what I have done, which has not been easy for him mentally and financially, so he deserves a big pat on the back for that. Together, we are trying to recreate that feeling we had before.”

The Minstermen will climb above Maidstone and off the bottom with a victory and could move up to 21st depending on Guiseley and North Ferriby’s results, with Mills adding: “I don’t like being where we are at the bottom of the pile and the biggest incentive ahead of this game is that we could be looking down on two or three clubs after it.”

While Mills does not expect his team to be 3-0 up inside the opening 19 minutes, as they were at Nuneaton, he has also stressed the need to set the tone for the match from the first whistle.

“Dan Parslow headed a ball in the first few seconds in our last home game against Barrow and that enabled us to win the game,” the City chief reasoned. “That has to be our approach in every game.

“If we don’t get the kick-off, we’ve got to make sure we get the ball back as quickly as we can and dictate the game.”