FORMER York City strikers Louis Almond and Wes Fletcher will play no part against their old club for table-toppers Chorley at Bootham Crescent this weekend.

Almond will serve the final game of a three-match suspension after being red-carded for kicking out at Jordan Liburd during a substitute outing in the 1-1 draw at Hereford on January 5.

The ex-Southport attacker, who spent last season with the Minstermen, has netted just four times for the Magpies this term.

Fletcher, meanwhile, has left the club, having failed to net once during an injury-plagued, six-month spell that also saw him loaned out to Lancaster City.

The 27-year-old forward is currently without a club, having joined Chorley in the summer after two years with The New Saints

He was top scorer for Minstermen on 13 goals when the club reached the 2013/14 League Two play-offs, which was the highest tally any player managed in a season during the club’s four-year return to the Football League.

Despite the pair’s struggle in front of goal, Chorley have not been found wanting in that department of the pitch and, having hit the target 53 times, are the National League North’s joint-top scorers, along with Spennymoor.

None of their individual players has mustered a haul bigger than City’s 13-goal leading marksman Jordan Burrow, but there has been a more even spread, with left-back Adam Blakeman and striker Marcus Carver top of the charts on ten, closely followed by Josh Wilson and Josh O’Keefe, who have nine apiece.

The Lancastrians have netted in all of their last 12 league games, meanwhile, stretching back to a 3-0 defeat at Stockport on October 30.

With Almond out, manager Jamie Vermiglio has bolstered his ranks by signing former Burton attacker Adam McGurk following his departure from Nuneaton last month.

But McGurk had to wait for his debut off the bench during Saturday’s 3-0 home win over Guiseley and Chorley look set to select an unchanged starting XI for the third consecutive fixture with no current injury concerns.

The Victory Park outfit, who are four points clear of Stockport at the top with a game in hand having taken 16 from a possible 18 in their last six games, also boast the division’s joint-best defence, with just 22 goals conceded – a tally only matched by their nearest rivals.

Cementing their status as worthy leaders of the division, Chorley have racked up the most league wins (16) and the fewest defeats (four) and also boast a goal difference that is six superior to any other side.

The Magpies losses have come against the three clubs directly below them in the standings - Stockport, Bradford Park Avenue and Spennymoor, along with tenth-placed Blyth.

Away from home, Chorley have lost just two league contests – at Stockport and Bradford – but they have only won three out of the last ten fixtures on their travels in all competitions and are yet to defeat anybody in the top-seven places on the road, having also drawn at Telford.

Stockport remain the only host team not to have conceded against Chorley in a National League North match this term.

The Magpies’ record of 25 away points can also only be matched by Spennymoor and Curzon Ashton.