YORK City are expected to lock horns with an old foe when Wrexham visit Bootham Crescent tomorrow afternoon.
Centre-back Mark Creighton, 29, was poised to confirm a loan move from Oxford United last night in time to play for the Dragons and he has previous form against the Minstermen.
The ex-Kidderminster captain was a key player as Oxford frustrated City’s strikeforce of Richard Brodie and Michael Rankine during May’s 3-1 Blue Square Premier play-off final defeat at Wembley.
Earlier in the season, the 6ft 4in tall defender had also scored a last-minute goal on his debut to earn the U’s an ill-deserved 2-1 opening day victory over the Minstermen at the Kassam Stadium.
Creighton, affectionately nicknamed “The Beast” by Oxford fans after playing a vital role during 40 appearances in the club’s 2009/10 promotion push, is set to be snapped up by Wrexham boss Dean Saunders until January after only starting five games of the current League Two campaign.
He has been drafted in with Saunders light on centre-backs following a knee injury to veteran former Chelsea and Leicester defender Frank Sinclair, who turns 39 next month.
Creighton is expected to slot straight into the Dragons’ back four, alongside 97-cap Trinidad and Tobago international and former Glasgow Rangers defender Marvin Andrews, with Chris Blackburn switching to right-back and Curtis Obeng dropping out.
Otherwise, the Welshmen are likely to be unchanged from the side that started Thursday night’s 1-0 home victory over Luton Town.
That win lifted the Racecourse Ground outfit to seventh in the Blue Square Bet Premier standings just two points off the play-off zone.
With four league defeats this season, only Crawley and Fleetwood have lost fewer games than Wrexham, who have also taken seven points from a possible nine during their last three away fixtures, drawing 1-1 at Histon following victories on the road against Hayes and Yeading (3-0) and Darlington (1-0).
Old stagers Gareth Taylor and Andy Morrell who, at 37 and 36 respectively, boast a combined age of 73, are the former European Cup Winners’ Cup quarter-finalists’ joint-top scorers this campaign with just four goals apiece.
They are normally joined in a three-pronged attack by ex-Forest Green and Accrington Stanley forward Andy Mangan, who netted the match winner in front of the television cameras at Kenilworth Road.
Despite scoring three goals in just five starts, ex-Minstermen midfielder Christian Smith has not made an appearance since mid-September but was an unused substitute against Luton.
Another former Bootham Crescent employee Kevin Gall, meanwhile, has not featured since the 1-1 home draw with City during the same month.
Wrexham (probable): Maxwell; Blackburn, Andrews, Creighton, Ashton; Keates, Harris, Tolley; Taylor, Mangan, Morrell.
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