SIMON Heslop is expected to go straight back into the York City side for tomorrow’s trip to Spennymoor.

The 31-year-old midfielder missed Saturday’s 2-1 defeat at Telford, as he served a one-match suspension after receiving his fifth yellow card in National League North fixtures this term.

But Heslop has started the other ten matches of Sam Collins’ City managerial career and the Bootham Crescent chief declared: “He’s been a big player for us so far.

“He gives us lots of energy and looks after the ball well. He’s also got that intensity of wanting to go and close people down, which we didn’t do that well in the second half at Telford, so it’s really important for us that he’s back.”

Veteran striker Jon Parkin is also set to be back in the squad after a knee problem ruled him out at the weekend.

“Jon got a bit of a whack on his knee in training and we didn’t want to risk losing him for any longer by involving him at Telford,” Collins pointed out. “It was just precautionary and, hopefully, he’ll be OK for Spennymoor.”

Former Spennymoor right-back Kallum Griffiths, meanwhile, is a likely starter at the Brewery Field, where he spent nine years as a player, before making the switch to North Yorkshire over the summer.

Teenager Nathan Dyer got the nod over Griffiths at Telford, but Collins admitted: “We’re conscious that Kallum was there quite a long time and, on Saturday, we were thinking about Tuesday’s game with him on that one.

“Nathan did really well at Telford and has done great so far. He did his job and got forward for us and played a big part in the goal.

“He did a lot of good things and I’m delighted with him. We’ve got competition for places in that right-back position and Kallum will be really fresh now for Spennymoor if we think playing him is the right thing to do, as I know he will be wanting to go back there and do well, although the most important thing will be us getting a result.”

Prior to the Telford trip, Collins revealed that he had personnel and tactical approaches in mind for each of the Minstermen’s games against higher-placed rivals during a Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday schedule.

Despite that sequence getting off to a losing start, he is of a mind not to deviate from that battle plan as City visit a Spennymoor side who have rattled in more home goals than any other team in the division.

“We didn’t pick up any injuries (at the weekend) and, even though we lost at Telford, that still doesn’t change the game-plan in our minds for this match,” he explained. “We go out to try and win every game and we had a plan to help us do that on Saturday and one designed to help us win at Spennymoor.

“Like Telford, they’ve done quite well this season. They’ve scored quite a lot of goals at their place and we’ve got to be ready for that and react positively from the weekend.”