BLOODING young players will be a priority for York head coach Lee Denham over the remainder of the Yorkshire One campaign.

The Clifton Parkers go to Old Crossleyans in fine form and looking for a fifth consecutive victory. They will hope to grab the spoils against a Halifax-based outfit that have won only four times all season and are second bottom of the table.

While stressing the need to try and continue their ascent up the table - and Denham hasn't ruled out a third place finish - he is also keen to integrate some of the club's young and fringe players into the first teams squad and help them get valuable match time over the remaining two months of the season.

Citing second row Eric Hall, who turned out in York's victory over West Park Leeds last time out, Denham said: "Eric started on the bench and played about 30 minutes and had a fantastic game. He is not quite ready but the likelihood is that by the end of the season he will get four or five games under his belt.

"As a 20-year-old, that's absolutely fantastic - to allow some of our younger players a bit of time on the park and to get some appearances under their belt. It will make it easier for us next year and the year after as we won't be going in with young players who have never played first team rugby.

"If he plays ten games next season, he could be playing a full season the year after that."

Denham has been thrilled by the club's turnaround over the past month and said the players have been the architects of the changes.

He added: "I am over the moon with the way the lads are turning themselves around. We had a chat at training and they have targeted the next three games as point earners. We feel our form is significantly better than those other teams. The lads want to do it for themselves and they are not waiting for me to try and develop them into players.

"They are asking questions about how to do things, are coming to me with questions and I am hopefully giving them answers."

Denham will welcome Josh Mortimer, who played for York Acorn ARLC in their Challenge Cup win last weekend, and Josh Parker back into the squad. Ed Proctor also returns to the bench.

Having pulled themselves out of the Yorkshire One bottom two, Selby will bid to reach the last four of the Yorkshire Shield when they host Pontefract at Sandhill Lane. York RI are not in action this weekend.