YORK City boss Russ Wilcox is wrestling with the temptation to give Josh Carson his first start since March in tomorrow night's FA Cup replay at AFC Wimbledon.

Carson has not kicked off a senior match since suffering cruciate ligament damage eight months ago, but he marked his comeback with a 78th-minute substitute outing during Saturday's 1-0 home defeat to Oxford.

City boss Wilcox was impressed by that cameo and, while Michael Coulson looks certain to operate on one flank at Kingsmeadow, Carson is in contention with the likes of Lindon Meikle and Anthony Straker for a berth on the opposite wing.

On his selection dilemma, Wilcox said: "Josh showed in 15 minutes against Oxford what he's about with little glimpses of his quality. He's very athletic, strong and it's all about resisting the temptation to push him even harder.

"I feel the urge to do that - that's for certain - but I will have another chat with him and see how he wants to approach things. He's worked so hard to get to the point he's at and he wants to show people what he's capable of doing."

Wilcox is also pondering whether to start with last season's leading marksman Wes Fletcher, who made way for Carson against Oxford, having made his first start in seven matches following hamstring trouble.

The City boss wants to guard against a recurrence of that problem and is unsure whether it would be prudent for Fletcher to kick off three games in a week with an important Sky Bet League Two trip to fellow strugglers Hartlepool to follow on Saturday.

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Jake Hyde, who partnered Fletcher in attack at the weekend, has also had his share of injury problems and Wilcox admitted he faces a balance between improving the side's potency and keeping players out of the treatment room.

"Fourteen league goals is not good enough and that's why we are where we are," Wilcox said of his fourth-bottom team. "We've got to score more and we are working with the two strikers on that, but we are also trying to bring them up to speed.

"You do that by playing them in games but you can't push them too far in case they break down."
Wilcox is expecting goalkeeper Michael Ingham to recover from the shoulder injury that ruled him out of the Oxford game, meaning he will take over between the sticks from on-loan shot stopper Alex Cisak, who has been refused permission to play in the competition by parent club Burnley.

Should Ingham fail a fitness test, however, third-choice keeper Jason Mooney would be handed his first start since being dropped from the team in August.

On that possibility, Wilcox added: "If Michael isn't fit, we would go with one of the kids on the bench and Jason would come in. He has trained really well during the last few weeks.

"He's still got some development to do because of his non-League background but I have been impressed with his attitude and application, so he's getting closer."

Striker Ryan Jarvis will return to the fold, meanwhile, with on-loan Middlesbrough right back Brad Halliday, who made the bench against Oxford, unavailable having arrived at Bootham Crescent after the date of the initial tie.

Wilcox has also admitted that he has thought about a tactical switch to 3-5-2, which would mean a recall to the side for centre-half John McCombe and make good use of City's attack-minded full-backs Marvin McCoy and Femi Ilesanmi, but any change is not likely to be implemented for tomorrow's game.

"You do think about changing formation and more so after a defeat," Wilcox reasoned. "There are different ways to try and win a football game.

"We could bring John in and go three at the back, but you would have to spend a bit of time on the training ground because it's difficult to just throw it out on to the pitch.

"Playing a back three is totally different to a back four. I know because I played in both as a defender.

"You can't just roll out a 4-4-2 every week and expect to pick up results, but I do think our performance on Saturday warranted a better result and we've got to be careful not to turn over too many stones because I don't think there's a great deal wrong other than putting the ball in the back of the net more often."

Wilcox agrees that hosts Wimbledon have been rightly installed as favourites to progress to a second round meeting with Wycombe on Sunday, December 7 but is looking forward to upsetting the odds, saying: "We are going there to cause an upset.

"It won't be a tough job lifting the players after Saturday's defeat. The FA Cup is a competition everyone loves, so everyone is raring to go and the importance of getting the first goal is key.

"We had done that in our last four games before Oxford and didn't lose any of them."

Tomorrow's tie will be decided on penalties if the teams are still level after 90 minutes and extra-time with Wilcox clear on his instructions for anybody selected to take part in a shoot-out.

"You can never replicate that scenario of players being tired at the end of 120 minutes but I think you have to know which side you are going to put the penalty," he pointed out.

"It's then important not to change your mind and I like to see penalties hit with power. I don't like any shimmying or staggered runs before trying to roll the ball in and, after two hours of football, the main thing is making sure you hit the target."