New recruit Matthew Blinkhorn has Wembley in his sights as he reveals to The Press’ York City reporter DAVE FLETT.

CUP final specialist Matthew Blinkhorn is hoping to add an FA Trophy winners’ medal to his collection of knockout honours.

The 26-year-old striker arrived at York City last week having won both the FAI Cup and the League of Ireland Cup with previous club Sligo Rovers.

On Saturday, he then helped fire his new team into the third round of non-League football’s premier competition with a goal four minutes into his second-half debut during the 6-2 success at Salisbury.

Back in 2010, Blackpool-born Blinkhorn scored the only goal of the game as Sligo defeated Monaghan United to lift the League of Ireland Cup.

The suspended 6ft tall forward missed out when Sligo won the FAI Cup during the same season in front of a massive crowd of 36,101 at the first final held in Dublin’s Aviva Stadium but he made up for that disappointment when he played as the holders retained the trophy last year at the expense of Shelbourne.

With City now three ties away from a place in the Trophy final at Wembley, the transfer window signing said: “I don’t want to speak too much about Wembley because you have to get there first but to play at a stadium like that and get another cup winners’ medal would be brilliant.

“There’s a long way to go because we’re only in the third round but the aim is to win the Trophy.”

Along with the successes, Blinkhorn has also endured his share of cup final lows.

The blow of missing out on the 2010 FAI Cup final came just three years after he was recalled by Blackpool from his loan spell at Morecambe as the Shrimps prepared for a Conference play-off bid that would see them dispose of his current club in the semi-final before going on to win promotion to the Football League at England’s national stadium.

With City having Wembley in their sights both as top-five Blue Square Bet Premier contenders and Trophy hopefuls, Blinkhorn now has a chance, however, to make amends for those lost opportunities in the past.

He said: “I was devastated when I missed the first FAI Cup final because, with us playing Shamrock, it was the two biggest-supported teams in Ireland. I was banned because I’d got four yellow cards in the whole season which was ridiculous really.

“We tried to appeal but had no joy so I went to support the lads and it was great to get to the next one the following year. Hopefully, now, the same might happen with the play-offs.

“It was disappointing not to play in the final for Morecambe back in 2007. We had been on form and I’d been on a good goalscoring run.

“It was probably the first time I had played regular first-team football but I was called back because there was a minor injury at Blackpool that was going to clear up in a week. I knew I was going back to sit on the bench or in the stands but, hopefully, I can make up for that now by getting to Wembley this season.

“I went to support Morecambe there when they reached the play-off final after beating York. I was at all those matches and I went there to watch Blackpool as well so I’ve been twice as a spectator and it would be nice to get on the pitch for a change.”

While he played no part in Morecambe’s final play-off push five years ago, Blinkhorn was instrumental in securing a top-five spot for the coastal club with eight goals in 12 matches during his loan stay.

Having also signed for City during the second half of the season, Bootham Crescent fans will now be hoping history repeats itself and Blinkhorn can fire his new club into a promotion-winning position.

He added: “Hopefully that can be the case. I was asked if I wanted the squad number 22 when I signed but I wanted 21 because that’s the number I had at Morecambe when we went up.

“I’m not normally superstitious but maybe it can be a good omen and, with a bit of hard work, we can do the same as Morecambe did back then.”

Having spent just over a week with his new team-mates, Blinkhorn is also encouraged by the kind of dressing room camaraderie that he believes was influential in winning trophies at his previous club.

He said: “I went to Sligo and they were second bottom but we went on to climb up the league and win three cup finals so I look back on my time there with pride.

“We had a great team spirit and I’ve already said to a few of the boys that I sense the same kind of thing here and that togetherness can take you a long way.”