York v Northampton preview

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Sander Puri, Ryan Jarvis and Ryan Bowman are among the new signings who could make their debuts against the Cobblers.

Minstermen boss Nigel Worthington has all nine of his summer recruits available apart from former Burnley forward Wes Fletcher, who turned his ankle in the recent friendly against Blackpool.

Defender Ben Davies, on loan from Preston, is a likely starter, while Craig Clay and Lewis Montrose, signed from Chesterfield and Gillingham respectively, as well as teenager Tom Platt are vying for a place in midfield.

Richard Cresswell, another permanent signing following his loan spell from Sheffield United last season, is expected to be in the starting line-up, while Worthington must choose between Michael Ingham and Blackpool loanee Chris Kettings in goal.

Visiting boss Aidy Boothroyd could hand debuts to as many as eight new players on the opening day.

Former Hull and Bradford goalkeeper Matt Duke is expected to start, while veteran defender Kevin Amankwaah should also feature at the back alongside Matt Heath.

Midfielders Ian Morris, Darren Carter, Danny Emerton and Gary Deegan are all vying for places in the middle, while former Newcastle striker JJ Hooper could start in attack.

Boothroyd will be without skipper Kelvin Langmead for up to three months after he suffered a knee injury in pre-season.

York v Northampton preview

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York manager Gary Mills is not expected to make any changes to his starting line-up for the second successive match.

Mills has no new injury or suspension problems and is likely to keep Matty Blair up front alongside Jason Walker and Ashley Chambers following the recent season-ending injury to Michael Coulson (anterior cruciate ligament).

Striker Jamie Reed is pushing for a recall to the starting line-up after scoring in the FA Cup draw with AFC Wimbledon on Saturday, while Lanre Oyebanjo is another player keen to win back his place in the side at right-back in place of Danny Parslow.

The Minstermen, two points off a play-off place, are unbeaten in their last five league matches.

Northampton will make the long trip to York with an unchanged squad.

Midfielder Chris Hackett and full-back John Johnson both returned to the starting line up against Bradford on Saturday following injury lay-offs and the Cobblers managed to get through the FA Cup first-round tie without suffering any new problems.

Boss Aidy Boothroyd, who is looking to make loan signings, has the likes of Ishmel Demontagnac, Clive Platt, Henoc Mukendi and Lewis Wilson available should he wish to freshen up his team.

“We are looking at loans and we’ve got a few irons in fires,” said Boothroyd at his pre-match press conference. “But first and foremost we’ve got to look at the players we’ve already got and Ben Harding (ankle) should be back in a couple of weeks, which will be a big plus for us.

“You can have as many loan players as you like but you can only have five in your matchday 18 so we can mix and match where we need to. We are getting out to lots of games to look at possible recruits, not just for now but with January very much in mind as well.

“Whenever you set out on a campaign you have a plan but then when you get a few injuries you have to adapt. To lose your best player to a broken leg is really unfortunate – especially for Alex Nicholls – and it throws up all kinds of questions to me about where we go now as a team in terms of what we do, how we play and the personnel within that system.”