Walker to miss Hatters Trophy tie

FORMER Luton Town striker Jason Walker has been ruled out of the FA Trophy semi-final first leg clash on Saturday with a hamstring injury.

The 27-year-old moved to York City in the summer after missing a crucial penalty for Town in the play-off final defeat to AFC Wimbledon and is the top scorer at Bootham Crescent, netting 16 goals so far.

Walker was on target when the Minstermen hammered Luton 3-0 earlier in the season but limped off during the 0-0 defeat with Tamworth on Tuesday night and York boss Gary Mills said: “Jason’s not as bad as we first thought. He won’t be available for tomorrow but it’s looking like seven to 10 days, which would be excellent.”

In Walker’s absence, another ex-Town striker comes into contention with Matthew Blinkhorn, who made three substitute appearances for Hatters in 2004, pushing for a start.

Mills continued: “It gives an opportunity for the likes of Blinks, Reedy and Moses to stake their claim. If I decide to go with Blinks, I thought he held the ball up and led the line well when he came on for Jason on Tuesday.”

Captain Chris Smith is available as is Chris Doig, but like Luton, City may well persevere with the 4-3-3- formation, according to Mills.

He added: “I can sense that some supporters would like us to go for people’s throats in every game and, if it was that easy, you would but you have to be sensible as well.

“When we have lost, it’s only been by the odd goal and we’ve kept three clean sheets in the last three games so the system we are using is a solid one.

“You have to be solid because I know that, if the opposition don’t score, we are capable of getting goals at any stage of a match. You have to know when you can go and open teams up and the best time is sometimes when they are getting a bit tired.

“We still need to be more offensive than we have been in first halves recently though and we have been nowhere near what we were playing like earlier in the season.

“I know that can change and, as manager, without being arrogant, I have to have broad shoulders and do what I think is right to make the club successful.”