YAN Klukowski is determined to enjoy some success with York City in the FA Trophy – a competition that has been far from kind to him in the past.

The Chippenham-born, 30-year-old was at Forest Green when the Gloucestershire outfit were dumped out of the tournament by part-timers Gainsborough Trinity and Chorley.

In fact, this afternoon’s third-round tie at Nuneaton represents the furthest he has ever progressed and he is in no mood to suffer another upset against the National League North hosts.

“It’s not been a great competition for myself,” Klukowski admitted. “Then, at the end of each season, I’ve watched the final and looked at the clubs at Wembley and though about what could have been.

“Hopefully, I’ll be there at the end of this season and we’ll lift the trophy. Even some players at the top level don’t get the opportunity to play at Wembley and, with the FA Trophy, it takes the fewest games to get there.

“We’re not getting carried away though. We’ve got to get past Nuneaton first and anybody who puts six past a National League team, which they did against Guiseley, is a dangerous side.”

Converted centre-back Klukowski has been the one constant since City’s switch to a back three in mid-November and has been flanked by eight different players in that time, including the likes of Clovis Kamdjo, Matt Fry, Danny Holmes, Shaun Rooney, Sean Newton and Aarran Racine.

On-loan pair Hamza Bencherif and Dan Parslow are set to operate alongside Klukowski for the third successive match today and, while the latter, has not been fazed by the chopping and changing, he is encouraged by the current triumvirate’s compatibility.

“I’ve played at the back with quite a few different people, but you just have to adapt quickly and learn how to play with different players and what their different strengths are,” Klukowski reasoned. “I think each individual in the back three now offers something slightly different and has their own qualities.

“Hamza is big and strong and wins his headers. Dan is good in the air and reads the game well whilst, hopefully, I can sweep up behind them and keep things tight.

“Hamza and Dan are also excellent talkers and a good word is as valuable as a good pass sometimes. They are experienced players who know what it takes to do well in this division and that tends to pull your own performance up because, when they are so consistent, it makes you want to be at their level or better.”

Klukowski also feels the time is now right to rid himself of his “utility man” reputation.

“I don’t want to be seen as versatile,” he explained. “At Forest Green, I played in a front three, wide in a 4-4-2 and in the centre of midfield.

“At Newport, I had a spell at wing-back and, now, I’m a centre half at York. Rather than playing here, there and everywhere, I think it’s best to play in one position and get used to it, which I have been doing for the last 14 matches.

“The gaffer has made it very clear he rates me in that position and I’m happy to stay there if it means I’m playing regularly at 30.”

A scorer of 58 professional goals, Klukowski does confess, nevertheless, that he is not sure keeping a clean sheet eclipses hitting the target quite yet.

“There’s something in me that will always prefer scoring a goal, because there’s not another feeling like it in the game,” he pointed out. “But your priorities change depending on your position on the pitch, so you can get a lot of pleasure from a clean sheet as a defender.

“If you get one, you only need one goal to win a game of football, so that’s the aim and, then, you let the strikers do what I used to do and score goals.”

Klukowski went on to express his faith in the club’s current frontline, spearheaded by Jon Parkin.

“I feel, with the boys on the bench as well, we’ve got one of the strongest strikeforces in the division and they can be the difference in terms of us staying in the division,” Klukowski ventured. “Jon’s performance have merited a higher goal tally and he’s been unlucky because he’s hit the post two or three times.”

Elsewhere, Ellie Randall, Sophie Tinson, Lindsay Jordan, Hollie Smith, Grace Foyer and Anna Whitehead were on target in York City Ladies’ 6-3 home win over South Shields.