YORK City are hoping star striker Jon Parkin will be fit for the weekend after he picked up a calf problem in tonight’s 2-0 win at Blyth Spartans.

The 35-year-old forward scored the opening goal at Croft Park and teed up the second for Sean Newton, but limped out of the action on 53 minutes.

City are now hoping last term’s 16-goal, top scorer Parkin will be fit for Saturday’s trip to Bradford Park Avenue, with fellow target-man Michael Rankine also yet to feature this season with a hamstring injury.

On Parkin’s prognosis, City chief Gary Mills said: “He was feeling his calf a bit, but we’re hoping he’ll be OK for Saturday, because it’s nothing major. He’s not pulled it.”

The Minstermen bounced back against Blyth following the disappointment of Saturday’s 1-0 opening-day defeat at home to Telford and Mills admitted it was a relief to get points on the board.

“It’s great to get off the mark,” he confessed. “It’s never nice to lose your first game and it means you have a nervy couple of days before the next one.”

Mills dispensed with 3-4-3 and switched to the 4-3-3 formation he favoured during his first successful spell with the Minstermen, pushing skipper Newton into midfield.

The change in tactics is likely to be persevered with at Bradford on Saturday, even though Mills admitted it is still a work in progress. “It’s the formation I played with at the club before and I wanted to go with it because I felt we needed that extra man in midfield and Newts was the ideal man, because he’s always liable to get a goal with his left foot and he did,” Mills explained. “I didn’t like how open the game was at times though.

“I like to be solid and don’t like the ball going into my box as often as it did. The strikers were not dropping in as much as we wanted in the first half, but our shape was better in the second half and we didn’t let them down the sides as much.

“The forwards we had when we played this way before Matty Blair and Ashley Chambers were more wingers than strikers, but the formation was thrown at the players a bit and they’ll get used to it. Hopefully, it will get us another result on Saturday, because I think there’s better to come.”

Mills also called on his team to be more clinical after a series of chances went begging to extend the margin of victory.

“Jon (Parkin) took his chance well and it was nice to get a second, although everybody knows I don’t like 2-0 as a scoreline and I wanted a third, which we should have had and we’ve got to be a bit more ruthless,” he pointed out.

One of the best opportunities to extend the lead fell to Parkin’s replacement Kaine Felix, who Mills reiterated must work on his composure in the final third of the pitch.

“Kaine did well in pre-season, but we saw both sides of him again,” Mills said of his second-half outing. “His pace creates problems and he’s as honest as the day is long, but then he had a shot at an open goal and hit it wide and that’s Kaine.

“He’s got to learn to relax in front of that goal and that’s an art. That’s not me destroying his confidence.

“I just want to gee him up, so he can progress in his career because, if you put yourself forward as a striker, scoring is part and parcel of your job. But it wasn’t just Kaine either - Amari (Morgan-Smith) should have had a hat-trick as well.” Mills went on to praise keeper Jon Worsnop for keeping his side on level terms before Parkin opened the scoring.

“Jon kept us in it during the first quarter of an hour with a couple of good saves when we were too open and things like that have to be highlighted, because they are often forgotten after a victory,” he reasoned.

Midfielder Adriano Moke also earned the praise of his manager after responding to Mills’ challenge to deliver a big season for the club. “I thought he was outstanding and man of the match by a mile,” Mills said. “He’s 27 and has got to show what he can do and deliver.

“He did that on the ball and by winning it, which was really pleasing because we knew their big winger (Robbie) he would win a lot of knockdowns, but Mokes stopped them getting to the forwards. We want to keep getting that out of him and I’ll keep kicking him up the backside if we need to do.” Connor Smith also made his debut as a 65th-minute replacement with Mills adding: “You don’t get anybody more honest than Connor.

“He works so hard and he just needs to work on his game when he’s got a chance to score or put the ball on a sixpence for somebody. That will come with him and he’s a great lad who is well liked in the dressing room, because he’s whole-hearted and will always give you 100 per cent.”