Challinor unfussed by Luton’s huge following at Wembley

With Luton expected to take around 30,000 to Wembley, and York having sold little over 5,000 tickets, the Minstermen’s supporters are set to be outnumbered almost six to one.

Challinor though reasoned that the Minstermen sold fewer tickets than Newport for the Trophy final, but their vocal support was by no means drowned out by the Welsh team’s followers as York triumphed 2-0 on Saturday.

Challinor said: “The fans make themselves heard wherever we go. They get behind the team and push us forward and I expect them to do that again on Sunday.”

For a team whose last 33 goals have included only five before the half time interval and specialised in late strikes, Challinor added that City supporters might need to be patient again on Sunday.

He said: “At the start of the season, people did not really know much about the way we played. They probably wised up to it and we’ve had to work the ball into different positions a bit more to wear teams down.

“Then, we can play our football and cause sides problems. Saturday was always going to be a tight affair against Newport.

“We knew how they play and also that, if we matched them physically, we would be able to start playing football. That’s what’s happened in other games when we have left it late.

“We got the first goal on 65 minutes, which was a relief, then we got the second one soon afterwards, which was a good feeling. I think it will be more of the same on Sunday – tight and tough.

“We are expected to win on previous results but it’s a totally different game – a one-off match. We will need to dig deep first and then start to play our football, which we have done in previous games against Luton. I think if we do that we will be fine.”