Scott Dobie released by York City

First-year professional Tom Platt has also returned to Harrogate Town for a second loan spell, but Charlie Taylor has seen his temporary stay from Leeds United extended by another month.

Dobie leaves Bootham Crescent having failed to break into City’s first-team squad since his arrival at the end of last month.

The 33-year-old forward was invited to win a permanent contract with the Minstermen by Gary Mills having spent a year out of the game since playing for Bradford City at the end of the 2010/11 campaign.

He played in Monday’s behind-closed-doors reserve match at Doncaster but has been let go on the eve of City’s League Two clash at Aldershot tomorrow with Mills saying: “We had a chat after he played 45 minutes on Monday and we are not going to take things any further.

“He’s a great, honest lad who’s given it a go but we just feel he won’t be able to get to where we want him to be.”

On the decision to retain York-born Taylor, who is currently behind Jamal Fyfield in the pecking order for City’s left-back position, Mills added: “We have spoken to Leeds and we will take him for another month.

“I’ve had a good chat with him and told him we need the consistency in performance we saw in his first two matches but not in the next two before I left him out. He knows that and he’s not a young lad any more.

“At 19, you have to be a man and know what it takes to get into a team week in, week out but he’s hungry to get back in so, hopefully, that will work out.”

Captain Chris Smith and Clarke Carlisle have both been declared fit for tomorrow’s match after recovering from their respective hamstring and ankle problems.

With Dan Parslow and Chris Doig having ended last weekend’s 0-0 draw against Cheltenham in the heart of the home defence and David McGurk also completing his first 90 minutes in the reserve game since New Year’s Day, Mills is now expecting a keen contest for centre-back places.

The City boss said: “Chris Smith and Clarke Carlisle have both returned to training so I have some decisions to make again. David McGurk needed the game on Monday and needs a few more to get his sharpness but we’re hoping to play Newcastle on Wednesday and Sunderland or Scunthorpe the following week, so we’ve got games coming up for the players to get fitter and to show me that they want to get in the side.

“Chris Doig also needed the couple of games he’s had back in the team but there's better to come from him. I want him back to the form he showed at the back end of last season when he was reading the game and not giving the ball away.

“Passing is a strong part of his game but it’s been a bit wayward at times.

“There’s competition again at centre-back so it’s down to the players who get to fill those two positions.

“I’m not saying people take their foot off the pedal when there’s only two players for two positions, but it certainly helps when you have everybody available and people are fighting to keep their places in the team.”

Despite the floods bringing certain areas of York to a standstill this week, Mills added that the inconvenience has been minimal for his team.

He explained: “We were on the astroturf on Tuesday but we’ve been on the training ground otherwise and it was in surprisingly good condition.

“We will also train at Aldershot’s army barracks today so, whatever the result tomorrow, we won’t be blaming a lack of preparation.”

City could face former striker Michael Rankine in the clash at the Recreation Ground.

The 14-and-a-half stone frontman has only managed two League goals for the Shots since leaving Bootham Crescent in the summer of 2011 but Mills is aware of the threat he can pose.

“Everybody knows that he’s a handful on his day but the problem was he did not have enough of those days when he was here,” Mills said about Rankine. “We’ve just got to hope that it’s not his day if he plays for them tomorrow.

“He’s not been consistent enough over the years to be playing at a level he should be, but we will need to cope with him if he does play.”