Wembley incentive for veteran York City goalkeeper (From York Press)

Wembley incentive for veteran York City goalkeeper

12:00pm Tuesday 24th April 2012 in Sport By Dave Flett , Sports reporter

YORK City manager Gary Mills is ready to play 43-year-old goalkeeper coach Paul Musselwhite at Wembley if first-choice Michael Ingham does not recover from his shin injury in time.

Musselwhite is a veteran of seven play-off campaigns and played under the famous Twin Towers three times as a Scunthorpe and Port Vale player before the national stadium was knocked down and redeveloped.

Having kept two clean sheets in 1-0 wins at Cambridge and Braintree, while deputising for a crocked Ingham, City chief Mills has now insisted he would not be concerned if Musselwhite stayed between the sticks for the club’s remaining fixtures, including the FA Trophy final against Newport on Saturday, May 12, as well as a possible return to the world-famous arena eight days later for the Blue Square Bet Premier play-off final.

While hoping Ingham does return to the fold as soon as possible, Mills added the former Northern Ireland international’s absence has not been as keenly felt as many might have expected.

He said: “Inghy’s still sore. Hopefully, things will improve this week and he will be okay for Saturday but, if not, the coolest man at the club will continue in goal.

“Everybody thought Inghy’s injury might have put a downer on our chances of getting the points we needed to reach the play-offs.

“Luton and Kidderminster probably looked at it and said ‘They’ve lost their ’keeper and have only got somebody who’s going on 44 and looks like he enjoys his Burger Kings and McDonalds a bit too much’, but he’s been absolutely fantastic.

“He’s a great bloke to have on my coaching staff and he’s not let us down during the last two games. It wouldn't faze me playing him at Wembley if we needed to.

“We would see how cool he was then. But I know that, if he has to go in, he will do well.”

Mills also believes hamstring injury victims Lanre Oyebanjo and Adriano Moké will be fit for City’s play-off semi-final first leg against Mansfield or Wrexham at Bootham Crescent next week, while Chris Doig has recovered from his groin problem and could feature in the final fixture of the regulation season – at home to Forest Green on Saturday.

Mills added: “Lanre and Adriano are coming on well and they should both be back in training by the end of the week.

“They would have a chance of playing against Forest Green but, now we don’t need the points to make the play-offs, I won’t be risking them and wouldn’t have done anyway.

“It gives them a bit longer to recover. Chris Doig should be fit though, which is great, because we need every single player that we can get back.

“They are all important. We haven’t got any individuals – nobody is treated any differently to anybody else.

“Michael Potts came in for his first League start on Saturday but got through 90 minutes and did well. I thought he kept the ball superbly for us.”