LEFT-BACK James Meredith has insisted that Luton Town’s hostile Kenilworth Road ground will hold no fear for York City’s players.

Meredith was a member of the Minstermen team that ran for cover when coins and other missiles were hurled in their direction after completing a 2-0 play-off semi-final victory in Bedfordshire last May.

But the 22-year-old defender has told The Press he is looking forward to returning there tomorrow (noon) and will not be daunted by the experience.

“It was pretty interesting last time and I’m sure it will be a good atmosphere,” Meredith said.

“It could possibly get a bit lairy but that does not faze me and all the lads will be up for it.

“It’s a good stadium to go to because they get big crowds and we are ready for a tough battle. Everybody is looking forward to it.

“I will be interested to see how the crowd responds but we won’t be intimidated by going back there in the slightest. They should have got more of a punishment than they did maybe and I can’t remember seeing anything like that on television, let alone experiencing it first hand.

“But we will just be going there to play another game of football and not thinking too much about what happened last season.”

Meredith is likely to be one of only four players in Gary Mills’ side on Saturday who started that second leg clash with Richard Brodie, Ben Purkiss, Luke Graham and Alex Lawless all having since moved on and Levi Mackin, Chris Carruthers and Neil Barrett currently out of favour.

The other surviving members from that team will be Michael Rankine, Michael Ingham and David McGurk with Meredith pleased that the latter did not follow Lawless to Kenilworth Road after asking for permission to speak to the Hatters last month.

City’s Australian full back added: “I’m glad he stayed. The club and fans see him as a vital part of the team and I feel he would be really hard to replace.”

Meredith was The Press’ man of the match in the 1-0 first leg home victory over Luton and subdued dangerman Claude Gnapka in both games.

The ex-Shrewsbury defender is not, however, taking anything for granted when he renews acquaintances with the French winger in a noon kick-off.

“He’s a good player who is strong, quick and tricky so we will have to see who comes out on top and I don’t want to say too much more than that,” Meredith said.

While disappointed to be knocked out of the FA Trophy after a 1-0 home defeat to Boston last weekend, Meredith also believes falling at the first hurdle in that competition will help the team to focus fully on improving their league position during the second half of the season.

He said: “Like the gaffer pointed out, you are only five wins away from getting to Wembley in the Trophy and that’s a great opportunity but there is a good and a bad side when you exit the Trophy.

“It’s not great for revenue but you become more concentrated on the league, especially when you are in mid-table like we are and want to close in on the play-offs. I’m also looking forward to our FA Cup tie at Bolton.”

Meredith went on to dismiss any suggestions that he and his team-mates under-estimated Blue Square Bet North underdogs Boston in their last outing.

“We did not play as well as we can as a team,” he pointed out.

“I don’t think we took them lightly at all because we go into every game with a pretty good attitude.

“We just did not threaten them as much as we should have done and have been doing.

“They just sat back behind the ball after nicking a goal and that’s football. That can happen, especially in cup games.

“They were solid and know how to win their way and that’s the reason why they are so high up in their division.

“They weren’t anything special and we outplayed them but couldn’t score.”