YORK City striker Richard Pacquette can force his way into first-team reckoning during the final three months of the Blue Square Premier season.

Pacquette completed his first 90 minutes for the Minstermen since a summer move from Maidenhead when he scored the only goal of the game in Tuesday night’s FA Trophy replay victory over Newport at Bootham Crescent.

The former QPR and Stevenage striker has only started one other senior match for City but was sent off 56 minutes into the August league fixture at Gateshead.

Prior to the first tie against Newport, Pacquette had only made the bench once in 11 games and that came at Stoke City in the FA Cup when manager Martin Foyle was permitted to name seven substitutes.

But his goal to sink the runaway Blue Square South leaders was Pacquette’s third of the season despite playing less than four hours of football in five months with the Minstermen.

Having once famously scored for Havant and Waterlooville at Liverpool, Pacquette has also proven he is a man for knockout competitions at City with this week’s goal following his late equaliser against Crewe Alexandra in the first round of the FA Cup.

And, with Richard Brodie suspended for two games, Pacquette is set to retain his place in attack alongside either fit-again Michael Rankine or Michael Gash in tomorrow’s Trophy third round home clash against Corby Town.

Foyle, hoping Pacquette can now look forward to a more fruitful time, said: “Richard did very well to last 90 minutes on Tuesday, being without a full game under his belt. He knows what the standard is and what we need from him.

“We’re looking at partnerships all over the pitch and we know there will be opportunities for most of the players between now and the end of the season. “He’s been unlucky because he broke into the team after a patient start and then he got sent off at Gateshead.

“He got a hamstring problem soon afterwards and has picked up a few injuries but he’s always had a smile on his face and been the first to come into the changing room after every game to congratulate the team and the strikers. We signed him because of his ability to score goals and that’s not changed.”

Rankine and Michael Ingham have both recovered from the injuries that saw them miss the Newport match and will come back into contention, along with defender David McGurk, cleared for action after having four stitches in a head wound.

Midfielder Alex Lawless is still doubtful with a knee problem.

Should City beat Corby, the February 20 home meeting with Luton would be off.

A subsequent quarter-final win would also mean the postponement of games against Kidderminster and AFC Wimbledon on March 13 and 20 respectively.

Both games are under threat because of those two clubs’ continued Trophy involvement.

With top two Oxford and Stevenage still in the competition as well, Foyle admitted it was difficult to decipher the moment, if any, when a Trophy exit might best serve City’s promotion interests.

He said: “We are looking at the situation game by game. If we get through, we have to then see what our fixtures look like by the next round."

Re-iterating he would like the Blue Square Premier season extended by a week, Foyle added a possible solution to congestion caused by Trophy success would be to bring the competition forward by six weeks.

“That would help everybody knowing where they are, going into the New Year and give more time to fit fixtures in,” he said.

• Centre-back Alan O’Hare has rejoined Gainsborough on loan until the end of the season.