After falling to a disappointing defeat at home to Newcastle U21 in the EFL Trophy last week, York’s fringe players have another chance to impress as Rotherham United visit on Tuesday evening. City will almost certainly need a result from the game to have any chance of progressing to the knockout stages of the competition.
We’ve met before…
York and Rotherham have, of course, already met this season. The sides were evenly matched in a 1-1 draw at the New York Stadium in August, with Alex Newby equalising for the Minstermen after Ewan Otoo had put the home side in front. This will be the Millers’ first visit to the LNER Community Stadium.
The two clubs have a relatively rich history of meeting in the EFL Trophy, as this will be their sixth clash in the competition. The first of the previous five meetings came when it was the Freight Rover Trophy back in 1985/86, and ended with a goalless draw at Bootham Crescent. Rotherham were victorious in clashes at Millmoor in the group stage of the 1989/90 Leyland DAF Cup, and again in the quarter-finals of the 1995/96 Auto Windscreens Shield. The last two encounters came when the trophy was sponsored by Johnstone's Paint, and ended in a 1-0 win for York at Rotherham's current stadium in 2012/13, followed by a 3-0 victory for the Millers at Bootham Crescent the next season.
What to expect from Rotherham
This will be Rotherham’s first game in this season’s EFL Trophy, so it’s difficult to know how seriously manager Alex Bruce will be taking the competition. The Millers’ recent form has been reasonable, with a 1-0 away win at Northampton on Saturday following a 3-3 draw at home against Bruce’s former employers Salford City. We can probably expect a large number of changes, with key players rested and minutes given to others who have been warming the bench in league games or have recently returned from injury.
One player who lined up against York in last month’s league game and may start on Tuesday evening is goalkeeper Ted Cann, who has lost his first-team place to loanee Julian Eyestone for league games so could be handed minutes here. The experienced Joe Rafferty is likely to play in defence if he is passed fit after picking up a knock in training last week, and he could be joined in the back three by fringe players Emmanuel Adegboyega and Kieran Ngwenya.
In midfield, 19-year-old Jayce Fitzgerald is expected to be involved having joined the Millers on loan from Manchester United and mostly featured from the bench since then. Both Kian Spence and Jamie Jellis have recently returned to training after spells out with injury, so this game may be a chance to ease them back to match fitness. Jili Buyabu has been relegated to the bench for recent league fixtures so may be handed a start on the left wing in this game, while Marvin Kaleta could line up on the right flank having overcome the hamstring problem that has kept him out of action so far this season.
With top scorer Paul Mullin likely to be rested, there should be an opportunity for the experienced Tom Bradshaw to start up front. This game would have been an ideal opportunity for young forward George Sebine to be handed his first start of the season, but he is set to miss out with a calf injury, so Fábio Tavares may be retained in attack.
York team news
With few changes to player availability and a continued need to manage the minutes of first-team regulars, we can expect Scott Lindsey to select a very similar side for this game to the one that lined up against Newcastle U21 last week. One player who could come into the side is Frankie Maguire, having returned from injury and made his competitive York debut from the bench at Chesterfield on Saturday. It will be interesting to see whether there is a repeat of last Tuesday’s farcical first-minute substitution, and if so whether Ollie Pearce is the man making way again or whether Lindsey will look to share this particular duty around the squad.
A reminder that the rules of the EFL Trophy state that each team must include at least four qualifying outfield players in their starting eleven to ensure that they are meeting the requirement to play ‘Full Available Strength’. A qualifying player means any player who meets at least one of the following criteria:
had started the immediately preceding first team fixture
subsequently starts the immediately following first team fixture
is in the list of ten players at the club with the highest number of starting appearances in first team fixtures in the same season
has made forty or more starting appearances in first team fixtures or international equivalents (and not limited to the same club or season)
is on standard loan from a Premier League club or any EFL club operating a Category One Academy.
