YORK City must match Eastleigh's "high energy" tomorrow afternoon (3pm) if they are to return to winning ways in the Vanarama National League, according to Kingsley James.
York began life back in the top-flight of non-league football with a dominant 2-0 win over Woking on the opening day before falling to a 2-1 defeat against fellow newly-promoted side Maidstone United last weekend and commendably drawing 1-1 at Solihull Moors on Wednesday.
City host Eastleigh on Saturday at the LNER Community Stadium, with the Spitfires aiming to bounce back from last season's lowly 19th-placed finish.
That was the Hampshire club's worst showing in the eight seasons since winning the 2013/14 National League South title, during which they have recorded four top 10 finishes.
Like York, Eastleigh have one win, one draw and one loss to their name after three matches thus far.
“I’m expecting high energy from the games that we’ve watched," City's first-team coach James assessed. "They’re a young team who have started really well.
“They were well in the game against Wrexham (lost 2-1) and they’ve had good results against Wealdstone (1-0 win) and Dagenham (& Redbridge, drew 1-1).
“We’re expecting a tough game because they’ve got a lot of quality.
"We’ve got to match that energy and try to better them, which I think we’ve done in the three games so far.
“If we can do that, then we’ll look to do the things that we’ve been trying to implement in possession.”
James and manager John Askey's side head into the match on the back of the 1-1 draw at Solihull in mid-week, a somewhat surprise but thoroughly deserved point on the road for the Minstermen against last season's narrowly-beaten play-off finalists.
“In the first half, we had numerous very good opportunities," reflected James.
"Even in those moments when they had a lot of the ball, we still had really good opportunities to score.
“It was an excellent performance and we need to keep doing what we’ve done in all three of the games so far."
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here