TRIALIST striker Andy Bell aims to get his career back on track with York City.

The 20-year-old goal-getter is hoping to prove to player-boss Chris Brass that he has a future in the game.

"I've been here three days now and things have gone well in training," said Bell.

"But I was gutted when the reserve game at Lincoln was called off as I was really looking forward to playing."

That bad luck has been symptomatic of Bell's recent experiences.

The Blackburn-born forward was released by his hometown team last summer after nearly a decade coming through the junior ranks at Ewood Park.

"There were so many players blocking a route to the first team then - Andy Cole, Dwight Yorke, Matt Jansen, Corrazo Grabbi and Egil Ostenstad," he recalled.

After being told he was surplus to requirements, Bell linked up with Second Division Wycombe and made a blazing start - three goals in as many games.

But when Lawrie Sanchez (the current Northern Ireland boss) left, Bell found himself on the bench as John Gorman, Glenn Hoddle's former assistant with England, took charge.

When Tony Adams was appointed manager at Adams Park, the former Arsenal defender opted to release Bell, who put out some feelers and was delighted when City came in.

"I'm a penalty-box player," said Bell - and that is just what shot-shy City have been missing this season.

He's certainly a player with pedigree, having played alongside some of the Premiership's rising stars when he was an England Under-15 youth international.

"I had been at Blackburn since the age of ten," said Bell, who remembers current City midfielder Darren Dunning, who was a few years older, trying to break in to the senior side. But the pair only played a handful of reserve games together.

Bell was a regular at U15 level for England playing alongside the likes of York-born Leeds United defender Matthew Kilgallon, rising Arsenal midfield starlet David Bentley and Glen Johnson, the West Ham full-back, who earned a £6million move to Chelsea and has since won full honours under Sven-Goran Eriksson.

Bell was a regular youth international with more than a dozen caps, but the goals dried up for a while at Blackburn, and he found it harder to break into the international scene.

There were glimpses at Wycombe that his scoring touch had returned and now he is just praying for an opportunity to show City fans what he can do if given an opening.

Updated: 10:58 Friday, February 27, 2004