VICE-CAPTAIN Matty Brown has insisted he will not bail himself out by using York City's inexperienced back line as an excuse.

As a result of City's injury woes, the 31-year-old centre-back found himself as the only regular senior defender in the back four for Monday's win at Spennymoor Town.

He was partnered at the heart of the defence at The Brewery Field by 22-year-old central midfielder Sam Fielding, with on-loan 19-year-old Jaden Charles at left-back and attacking midfielder Olly Dyson stepping in at short notice at right-back.

With Michael Duckworth unlikely to recover in time to re-take the field tomorrow at the LNER Community Stadium (3pm) against Farsley Celtic, Brown might be accompanied by a similar set of defensive colleagues.

Former Manchester City youth team player Brown admits that such a set-up puts extra organisational responsibilities on his shoulders, but he is not making a big thing of it.

“It can be as hard as you want to make it," he said.

"If you’re an excuse-maker, you can bail out and say, ‘What are you supposed to do? You’re with young kids’ but that’s not the way I look at it. I see these players in training every day and I know what they’re capable of, what futures they’re going to have in the game.

“They’re inexperienced but I back myself to be able to communicate with them to help them on the way, to be in the right positions and ultimately get the result, and that’s what happened on Monday.

“It is what it is - we’re down to the bare bones but by no means are we struggling at the moment.

“Obviously when we get our experienced players back, we’re going to push on but at the moment, I’m not worried at all because the players who are filling in are good players."

While club captain Sean Newton recovers from injury, Brown has been handed the armband. To be in his position is "a huge honour", he says, but it will make no difference to his performances.

“To be honest, an armband is just a piece of material to me," he said. "Whether I’m captain or not, you’ll get the same out of me week in, week out.

“I’m very vocal, I like to bark instructions out. I was brought up with them men who, if you didn’t speak, shouted at you. It’s second nature to me.

“It’s a huge honour to be vice-captain at a club like York and it’s something I’m proud of.

“Sean Newton is the captain, he’s the leader in the dressing room and the sooner we can get him on the pitch, the better for the club.”

The Minstermen go into Saturday's meeting with Farsley off the back of their first win of the season. The 3-1 victory at Spennymoor has “done wonders for the dressing room” Brown said and he hailed the team spirit on show at The Brewery Field.

Back in York, Brown is hoping that passionate fans can help City make home advantage count.

“We want to make this place a fortress this season and there’s no reason why we can’t," he said. "Get the fans behind us and make it a real tough place for the opposition to come to. We don’t want it to be a place where people come and enjoy playing. We want it to be hostile for our benefit.

“Farsley’s the next game so it’s the most important game. We’re under no illusions that it’s going to be an easy game - they’re a good side, they have good qualities.

“We’re working this week on exploiting them and making sure we come out with maximum points.”