YORK City travel to runaway Conference leaders Oxford United on Saturday but in-form defender Danny Parslow is no stranger to tackling the best in the business.

Centre-back Parslow has been capped five times by Wales at Under-21 level and includes Charlton and England striker Darren Bent as one of his international adversaries.

Bent scored as an England side, also featuring Stewart Downing, Jermaine Pennant, James Milner, Glen Johnson and Scott Carson, narrowly beat their Welsh counterparts 2-0 two years ago at Blackburn Rovers' Ewood Park.

Oxford strikers Robert Duffy and Steve Basham have both found the net on a regular basis during their team's unbeaten start but should hold no fear for 21-year-old Parslow, having locked horns with Bent, who only finished behind Thierry Henry and Ruud van Nistelrooy in the Premiership goalscoring stakes last season.

Bent was on target 22 times in 2005/2006 and has scored four goals in seven matches during a difficult start to the current campaign for Charlton.

He also featured in Steve McClaren's first game as England manager - a 4-0 defeat of Greece.

About his encounter with Bent, City's Parslow said: "It was a big game, we were the underdogs and Bent was very sharp. He was always on the move and aware of where to go.

"He was difficult to pick up but those are the players you want to test yourself against and I was pleased with my performance. It was a great experience."

Parslow also relished the opportunity to play in front of 25,000 fans for his country and is looking forward to the atmosphere at the Kassam Stadium on Saturday when the Conference's highest gate of the season - the 6,504 that turned up for Oxford's home match with Grays - is expected to be bettered.

He said: "There will be a lot of fans on Saturday and playing in front of a lot of people spurs you on.

"Oxford are top of the league but we've had a decent start and it will be a good test to see how good we are but we are confident and have worked hard this week."

Parslow was told he was surplus to requirements at former club Cardiff City in January.

He arrived at KitKat Crescent earlier this season after a brief spell with Swansea and was recommended by Bluebirds coach Paul Wilkinson, who worked with City's reserve team manager Colin Walker at Barnsley.

After initially arriving on a trial, he signed non-contract terms and then a permanent deal and has started the Minstermen's last three games alongside three different centre-backs in David McGurk, James Dudgeon and Nathan Peat because of injury and illness problems.

He added: "They are all good players so that has been quite easy and, coming from a club like Cardiff where chances are limited, it's nice to be playing week in, week out, although I know the only way I can keep doing that is by playing the best I can.

"At Cardiff, there was a big list of centre-halves when I was coming through such as Danny Gabbidon, Neil Cox, Darren Purse and James Collins.

"It was frustrating not to get an opportunity as I had been there for eight years, but I needed a fresh start. The competition is also tough here but I have got confidence in my ability and hopefully I can make a starting place mine."