ASSISTANT-MANAGER Micky Cummins has insisted that there will be no room for complacency as York City embark on a favourable-looking end to 2019.

The Minstermen will face no team in the current top-eight positions of the National League North table up to and including their New Year’s Day home clash with basement-team Bradford Park Avenue.

First up in that batch of six fixtures is a trip to 13th-placed Hereford on Tuesday night (7.45pm), who have not won any of their last eight matches, with contests against Kettering (19th), Darlington (15th), Bradford (22nd) twice and Guiseley (ninth) to follow.

But, with City’s only defeats this term coming against bottom-seven outfits Altrincham and Curzon Ashton, Cummins is reading nothing into league standings.

He said: “If you analyse things on paper, you could take your foot off the gas and we really can’t do that. We suffered from that in part at Curzon.

“You can’t assume you can just turn up and win a game. You have to earn that right by, first and foremost, working hard and being positive and getting on the front foot, so you will create chances in the final third.

“You can’t take anybody for granted. You have got to prepare correctly and be good on the day or night.”

City, meanwhile, will come up against one of their biggest National League North nemeses Reece Styche at Hereford.

The 30-year-old Gibraltar international has netted five times against City for three different teams – Tamworth, Darlington and Alfreton – since relegation to the sixth tier and will have a chance to extend that record with a fourth club at Edgar Street.

Styche has only scored twice this term – once in the league and once in the FA Cup and both from the penalty spot – but he has repeatedly got under the skin of City’s defences in the past, although his former Gateshead coach Cummins feels that the squad are now better equipped to handle his antics.

“He’s a wind-up merchant,” Cummins said of Styche. “I shared a changing room at Gateshead with him and he’s a lovely lad in there and on the training ground but, when he crosses that white line, he turns into a pain in the backside.

“I don’t know what kind of shape he’ll be in and whether he’s fit or not, but we have a solid three. Josh King has come in for the last couple of games and done really well and we’ve got the experience of Steve McNulty and Sean Newton in there.

“We’re a bit more mature now and less naïve to get into a slanging match or mind games. But, if he comes at you acting like that, he will be trying to get in your head and you just have to concentrate on getting the better of him.

“There’s not only him though. Stephen Dawson and Peter Vincenti will offer other threats.

“They have experienced footballers with a bit of know-how and a manager (Russell Slade) who is quite experienced, so I’m sure they’ll be up for it and they get decent crowds as well.”

City ended a three-match goal drought as Jordan Burrow’s 13th-minute strike secured Saturday’s 1-0 home win over Alfreton, but the team have not had a midfielder on the scoresheet for any of the past nine fixtures since Andy Bond was on target during September’s 3-0 win over King’s Lynn.

Elliott Durrell was denied twice, however, by smart saves from visiting keeper Jack Atkinson at the weekend and Cummins believes the Shrewsbury-born 30-year-old, who has 37 senior goals to his name, can improve the Minstermen’s potency from that department of the side.

“Duzza had a couple of shots saved and he can contribute in that respect – 100 per cent,” the City coach declared. “He can unlock a door and score goals and we need midfielders chipping in.”

Summer signing Dan Maguire will not travel to Hereford after pulling out of Saturday’s warm-up due to a tight hamstring muscle.