JOHN ASKEY has enthused that his time at York City has “been fantastic” for both him and Kingsley James as he approaches his 50th game in charge of the club against FC Halifax Town.

York travel to The Shay on Tuesday (7.45pm) for their mid-week Yorkshire derby in the Vanarama National League.

City returned to winning ways in an emphatic manner on Saturday, thrashing Barnet 5-0 away from home at The Hive Stadium.

The Minstermen’s clash with Town will be manager Askey’s 50th game in charge of the club that he first took charge of, on an interim basis, last November, before taking the role permanently in March earlier this year.

“I didn’t realise that (it was the 50th game), but it’s been fantastic for myself and Kingsley (James, first-team coach),” enthused Askey.

“We’ve really enjoyed it, it couldn’t have gone any better for us. But we know that if we take our foot off the pedal and don’t work hard, then it won’t be as enjoyable.

“It’s about winning and we’ve said that all along. If the team is winning, that’s everything.

“That’s why Saturday’s aren’t always an enjoyable time, because unless you win, you go from feeling great to feeling like, I can't say, but you can imagine how I feel if we don’t win.”

Halifax are currently rooted to the bottom of the table, having won just two out of 11 games. In their last outing on Saturday, they were thrashed 4-0 by Woking.

Askey though was insistent that his side’s impressive win at the weekend will in no way impact their clash with Town.

“We knew Scunthorpe had decent players and we know Halifax have got good players,” insisted Askey.

“If we turn up and think, because we won 5-0 a few days ago, that it’s just going to happen, then we’re sadly mistaken.

“Every game that we play in, it doesn’t matter who you play against in this league, they’re more than capable of beating us, and we’re more than capable of beating other teams.

“But we’ve got to be at it. If we are, we’ve got a great chance.

“They are (vastly experienced). The last three or four years, they’ve been up there and competing.

“They’ve just signed Emmanuel Dieseruvwe, and he went up with Grimsby last season, he’s a good player.

“Why they’re down there, I don’t know, but if they click, they’re more than capable of giving us a really tough game.

“But we’ve just got to concentrate on ourselves, as we always do, and hopefully we’ll be good enough.”