JOE Tait, Alex Harris and Macaulay Langstaff are all poised for recalls to York City’s starting XI.

The trio impressed during a behind-closed-doors reserve match against Sheffield Wednesday this week and are expected to feature from the start in Saturday’s FA Trophy third qualifying round clash at Kidderminster Harriers.

Langstaff and Tait, who is available again after serving a three-match suspension, are set to be direct replacements for loan recruits Joe Ironside and Kennedy Digie with the latter pair refused permission to play against their parent club.

Former Hibernian attacker Harris, meanwhile, is being prepared for his first start in four matches in a bid to improve an unimaginative midfield.

On his selection thoughts, City chief Sam Collins said: “We played a reserve game against Sheffield Wednesday this week and quite a few players in and around the squad made a big impact. We won 3-2 and they had players like Sam Hutchinson, George Boyd and Daniel Pudil in their team.

“Some of their players were on £35,000 a week, but Macaulay Langstaff got a couple of goals and Alex Harris did really well. I think, with Alex, he hadn’t played a lot of football when he came here and, after doing really well for us, he went a little bit flat after quite a few games close together. But we’ve given him a little breather and he looks hungry and good to go again, so he’s in my mind because he can create things for you and we need to do better in and around the final third.

“Joe Tait also played half a game against Sheffield Wednesday and did well. It’s good to have him back and he’s a really good character to have around the group.”

Youth-team duo Reiss Harrison and Archie Whitfield, meanwhile, are edging closer to first-team debuts after also catching Collins’ eye against the Owls.

Harrison, 17, has signed pro terms despite being a first-year scholar like Whitfield with Collins adding: “The two young lads who did well against Northallerton in the County Cup did again against Sheffield Wednesday and it all boils down to how hard they work.

“They close people down and I want to see that in first-team games. Reiss was on the bench at Swindon and he’s getting to the point where he’s starting to put some of the senior players under real proper pressure.

“Every time he trains with us, and every time he plays in a game for us, he’s standing out. Young Archie travelled with us to Swindon too and just missed out on a place on the bench.

“They’re both central midfielders and are in the same boat. They’re brave and fearless, so they are in my head and I feel they have got to be with me all the time in the first-team environment, because they’re not hiding, they’re excelling.

“Archie is still only 16 but, if they keep doing what they are doing and I have to put them in ahead of a 32-year-old, I will do because they will have deserved their chance and, if it keeps the other players on their toes, so be it.”

Following last weekend’s 3-0 defeat at Altrincham, Collins is now demanding a return to the standards shown during the narrow 2-1 FA Cup defeat at Swindon and the encouraging 0-0 home draw with Chester, declaring: “I didn’t see that Altrincham display coming at all after the performances against Swindon and Chester but, looking back, people like Joe Davis and Alex Bray hadn’t had a lot of football prior to playing three games in a week.

“If I had changed the team, though, after the Chester match, everyone would have thought I was mad because everyone in the team had earned the right to play again.”

After one member of the team complained about the number of players who had tried and failed to reverse the club’s fortunes in recent seasons following the Alty loss, Collins went on to reiterate that such comments provide no mitigation for poor standards on the pitch.

“I don’t want players talking about the club being stuck in a rut, because that’s just excuses,” he insisted.

Collins, himself, came under fire last weekend when a supporter ran on to the pitch to remonstrate angrily with the City chief in front of the visitors’ dugout and, while league progress remains the club’s chief priority, the former Hartlepool defender has witnessed first-hand the Trophy’s power to build bridges with the fan base.

“I was there at the final in 2017 watching Gary Mills celebrating with the fans in the corner at Wembley and every manager wants the supporters to like them,” Collins admitted. “Nobody likes getting stick, but it’s all about the supporters seeing the team working hard and winning games.”