ON-LOAN Harrogate Town midfielder Liam Agnew will have more to prove than most York City players during tomorrow’s National League North clash at Stockport.

Agnew’s one-month spell at Bootham Crescent will end after the Edgeley Park trip, meaning he has less time than others to catch the eye of new boss Steve Watson.

The Sunderland-born 23-year-old had a mixed night as a half-time sub in Tuesday night’s 6-1 North Riding Cup victory over Redcar Athletic, scoring a spectacular goal before being sent off on 82 minutes for supposed dangerous play.

His resulting ban does not apply to senior fixtures, though, giving him another opportunity to illustrate his worth to Watson, who said: “We’re still assessing the squad in terms of where we are strong, where we have cover and where we might need more cover. He (Agnew) will definitely be involved in some way at Stockport and I’ll then have had four days to assess him, which isn’t a great amount of time, but that’s forced upon us really.”

While Watson’s first two fixtures at the Minstermen helm could hardly be tougher with a trip to form side Stockport followed by a home clash against table-toppers Chorley seven days later, the 44-year-old boss welcomes the revealing insights both matches will provide.

“We want a couple of really good results but, if that doesn’t happen for one reason or another, I’ll find out a lot about who we can rely on, how people react when things aren’t going well and when we haven’t got the ball, who the leaders are and who will grab the game by the scruff of its neck in tough circumstances,” he declared.