MATTY BLAIR cannot wait to meet up with old pals this afternoon but is desperate to mark his return to Bootham Crescent with a win.

The 24-year-old winger might still be in love with his former club but those emotions will be placed firmly in check come 3pm today and will not diminish Blair’s desire to win three points for Fleetwood, if selected.

As a consequence, Blair will limit any pre-match communication to the exchanging of pleasantries and has confessed that the prospect of putting his old pals to the sword is one he is relishing.

“Whether you are playing against your mates on FIFA, at cards or in football, you want to beat them,” he explained. “The York players I have kept in touch with the most are David McGurk, Dan Parslow and Michael Ingham.

“I’ve seen a couple of them since I left and I think it’s important to always try to stay in touch with people you have had good relationships with.

“There has been no contact in the build-up to this game though and it will just be a matter of turning up at the game, saying hello and asking how they are. There won’t be any banter.”

Blair is also keen to remind City chief Nigel Worthington of his ability.

During the final ten games of last season with Worthington at the helm, as the club battled against relegation, Blair was left out of the first XI four times and admitted that was a difficult experience, saying: “Maybe I have a bit to prove to the manager.

“It was very frustrating for me during that run-in. With the position we were in, I was desperate to get us out of it, but the manager came in and made changes that he felt he needed to make to keep us in the League.

“Fortunately, that’s what happened.

I managed to get in for the last three games so I could play my little part in keeping the club up.”

Blair’s last game for the Minstermen saw him replaced on 78 minutes by Michael Coulson during the season finale’s 1-0 win at Dagenham.

He had, by that time, turned down a contract offer to stay at Bootham Crescent and also decided against a move to Portsmouth before committing his future to ambitious Fleetwood.

On that decision, he reasoned: “Fleetwood ticked all the boxes for me. They wanted to push for promotion and the facilities they will be getting at their new training ground are fantastic.

“They are putting a structure in place to go onwards and upwards and it’s exciting to be a part of that.”

With the likes of Gareth Evans, Junior Brown and Jeff Hughes all on the Cod Army’s books, however, the fight for a starting place on the flanks has been intense.

Blair has made the first XI four times and, on his Highbury career so far, he added: “It’s been OK. I would have liked to have had a bit more game time but the team have been doing well so I have been supporting that.

“If the team are winning and I’m not playing then that’s great, if the team are winning and I am playing that’s even better and, if the team are winning and I am playing and scoring, then that’s the ultimate.

“But the competition is very tough here. In my position, there are four wingers who I personally feel could play in any League Two team.”

Blair, who always wore a broad grin during his two years as a Minsterman, has seen his smile widen this term thanks to the antics of another Bootham Crescent old boy – Jon Parkin.

On his hilarious new team-mate, affectionately nicknamed ‘The Beast’, Blair said: “He’s the funniest man I have ever met in football.

Everything about him makes me laugh from his size to his smile and his Barnsley accent.

“He could be a comedian. All the lads look up to him and, even when you shouldn’t be laughing, he makes you laugh.

“He’s a great lad and very important to us off the pitch. On the pitch, he is very good as well.

“His legs might be going a little bit but, if you play the ball up to him, he will control and pass it. He is probably the best finisher I have played with. People are guilty of thinking he’s just a big target man and I was one of them but, if you give him ten chances, he will take eight or nine of them.”

 

Josh launches a right side battle

JOSH CARSON has drawn level at the top of The Press Player of the Year standings with long-time leader Lanre Oyebanjo.

The Northern Ireland Under-21 international, right, won three points towards the contest as our man of the match during last weekend’s 3-0 defeat at Newport.

Dan Parslow (two) and Lewis Montrose (one) received the other points on offer as our second and third-highest rated players from the Rodney Parade encounter.

In Tuesday’s 2-2 draw at Chesterfield, the points were shared between The Press manof- the-match Luke O’Neill (three), Parslow (two) and Ryan Brobbel (one).

The two Player of the Month bonus points, awarded to the Minsterman who received the most man-of-the-match votes from visitors to our website or @daveflettpress Twitter followers, also went to Carson and O’Neill following the respective Newport and Chesterfield matches.

Carson leads that competition as well – a point ahead of O’Neill.

To be in with a chance of presenting the October Press Player of the Month with a framed photograph before a City home game, vote for your man of the match from today’s home game with Fleetwood by visiting www.yorkpress.co.uk or tweet your choice to @daveflettpress The Press Player of the Year standings: Carson 9 pts, Oyebanjo 9, McGurk 7, Montrose 7, Smith 7, Fletcher 6, Jarvis 6, O’Neill 6, Parslow 6, Brobbel 5, Chambers 5, Clay 4, Ingham 2, Puri 2, Whitehouse 2, Davies 1.

The Press Player of the Month latest standings: Carson 10, O’Neill 9, Fletcher 4, Parslow 4, Whitehouse 2, Brobbel 1, Chambers 1, Montrose 1.

Goals: Jarvis 7, Fletcher 3, Brobbel 1, Carson 1, McGurk 1, Montrose 1, O’Neill 1.

Assists: Carson 3, Bowman 2, Brobbel 2, Clay 2, Jarvis 2, Cresswell 1, McGurk 1, O’Neill 1, Smith 1.

Bad boys: Montrose five yellow cards; Oyebanjo three yellows; Cresswell one red, one yellow; Smith two yellows; Bowman one red; Carson, Chambers, Clay, Coulson, Davies, Fyfield, Jarvis, McGurk, O’Neill, Parslow, Platt, Whitehouse all one yellow.