Swansea City v York City: Wilcox eager to keep league focus

York City manager Russ Wilcox has cooled expectations around his side’s League Cup trip to Swansea City, insisting that League Two remains their top priority.

Victory over 2013 finalists Bradford City on penalties took York into the second round of the competition for the first time since the 1997-98 season.

Garry Monk’s side, who won the competition two years ago with a 5-0 victory at Wembley, are unbeaten so far in their league campaign, but were left disappointed by Saturday’s draw at Sunderland.

York, having lost their opening two games, have taken four points from six and will relish the chance to pit their wits against Monk’s men.

However, Wilcox is set to rotate his squad following a hectic fixture schedule, which continued with a trip to Exeter City at the weekend.

“Recharging for Tuesday night is going to be so difficult on the back of two long journeys and it’s a worry,” he is quoted as saying by The York Press. 

“We’ve also played five matches in 14 days now and I thought we looked dead on our feet [at Exeter].

“Some of our lads are absolutely wiped out and, when fatigue comes into play, you can pick up injuries so, whilst I want to put out my strongest team and Swansea’s a great arena to play in, the bigger picture is we don’t want to lose players.

“I would prefer to win against Mansfield [in the league next week]

“I’m sure everybody will want to play but I’ve got to do what’s best for the football club and, in the long-term, the league is more important.”

Stephane Zubar (knee) will miss the trip to the Liberty Stadium, while Swansea could see Ki Sung-yueng return from a hamstring problem.

Monk cut a frustrated figure after Swansea’s 1-1 draw at The Stadium of Light – Bafetimbi Gomis having continued his prolific start to the campaign only for Jermain Defoe to level shortly after the hour.

However, goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski remained positive over his side’s unbeaten start to the season.

“Bafe took his goal really well at an important moment, but we could’ve scored more,” he told Swansea’s official website.

“We wanted to win, but the other thing that is important is that we are still unbeaten, which is a positive.

“Now we will focus on the Capital One Cup before another big game next weekend.”