York City juniors at full strength for FA Youth Cup game against Carlisle

10:26am Wednesday 18th November 2009

By Dave Flett

YORK City juniors will be at full strength for tonight’s FA Youth Cup home clash against Carlisle United.

Striker Dominic Brown made a scoring return during Saturday’s 3-0 Puma Youth Alliance North East Conference win at Hartlepool after serving a three-match suspension and coach Steve Torpey has no injury concerns ahead of the second round tie.

In fact, Torpey’s only selection dilemma is who to leave out of his starting XI with every member of his table-topping squad worthy of contention.

The winners of this evening’s 7pm Bootham Crescent match will play host to Premier League club Stoke City’s Under-18s in the next round and Torpey said: “You always try to go with your best team but that’s extremely difficult because we have strong competition for places.

“Everyone has done extremely well this season. It’s been a major team effort.

“Defensively, we’ve been pretty solid as a unit. The midfield has a bit of everything – flair, passing ability, work-rate and commitment.

“The three strikers can score goals and create chances while the goalkeepers have done well when called upon.

“We don’t really have any player who’s head and shoulders above the others.

“Everybody contributes and their attitude in training is spot-on. It’s a privilege to work with them.”

Torpey and City community coach Pete Vasey, who is currently assisting the U18 manager, saw Carlisle beat Accrington Stanley on penalties in the last round and picked up a useful insight into their Cumbrian opponents.

“It will be a tough game because they look quite a direct team from what we saw of them,” Torpey said. “They have a couple of good, key players, especially the centre-forward Ryan Bowman, who’s scored a few goals this season.

“Our two centre-halves Dean Lisles and Ryan Qualter have done extremely well this season though.

“They are no-nonsense defenders who can play a bit and, because they’ve been playing together for a few years, have a good understanding.”

The lure of tackling Stoke has inevitably created a buzz at City’s Wigginton Road training base but Torpey has been quick to focus minds, saying: “It’s a great incentive and a good draw for us, especially at home.

“As a coach, though, you have to make sure the players are concentrating on this game only and, hopefully, we can then think about Stoke if we progress.”