United's new striker Craig Farrell has trained with and against the best in the land.

He began as a trainee at Leeds, and signed pro for them in 2002, regularly playing for the reserves in their heyday, the 2001-2 and 2002-3 seasons, and training with the likes of Rio Ferdinand, Jonathan Woodgate, Mark Viduka, Robbie Keane and Harry Kewell.

That cannot have done anything but greatly improve his game.

Farrell showed in his debut against Lewes last Sunday that, while he may not have the current sharpness of on-fire James Constable, he is an intelligent player who will undoubtedly get goals when he gets chances.

He struck 14 in his first season when he moved to Carlisle, and was also top scorer the following year, when one of those came in a 2-0 win over Oxford United at Brunton Park.

After a spell with Exeter, where he says he moved for footballing reasons, he continued his yo-yo career up and down the length of Britain by moving to York.

And he got 14 goals last season, despite being restricted to just 13 starts in the league.

Three came in a hat-trick in the 6-0 FA Cup win over Rushall Olympic, and a brace at Farsley Celtic, but he also found the net against teams, such as Cambridge United, Burton and Kidderminster.

He has also been a regular penalty-taker, so Constable may face further opposition in his race for the ball when anyone’s brought down.