A fresh war of words has broken out between York City and Preston North End over ace marksman Richard Cresswell.

Speaking after seeing his side claim all three points in Saturday's 1-0 win over the Minstermen, Preston manager David Moyes confirmed an offer of more than £500,000 had been made for Creswell but had been turned down. And Moyes refused to rule out another attempt to prise City's prize asset away from Bootham Crescent.

His comments follow last week's Evening Press revelation that the Lancashire club had bid £500,000 for the star striker but had it 'laughed out of court'. But City maintained no such offer had been tabled by their second division rivals.

Chairman Douglas Craig, also speaking after Saturday's match, categorically denied Moyes' new claims.

"We have had no formal offer from any club," he said. "We have had a number of inquiries about how much we would want but no offer."

Moyes would not specify the exact amount offered to City, but said it would have broken the club's record transfer fee of £500,000 paid to Manchester United for Michael Appleton.

"We targeted Cresswell earlier in the season as one for the future," said Moyes. "We made a bid but as far as I am concerned it was turned down, but we are still interested."

Moyes, meanwhile, heaped praise on the City striker who was forced to lead the York front line on his own following the dismissal of Mark Tinkler and the subsequent withdrawal of Rodney Rowe.

"He caused us problems," said Moyes, who admitted his side were fighting fatigue after their heroics in the FA Cup last week when they were beaten by Arsenal.

"After last week, I would have taken any result," he said. "I do not think we performed all that well and it wasn't pretty but the players stuck to their job."

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