KINGSLEY JAMES has warned that York City will receive "another shock" if they enter tomorrow afternoon's clash against bottom-of-the-table Torquay United (3pm) with the wrong mindset.

York take on the Vanarama National League's 24th-placed club for the third time this season when they host Torquay at the LNER Community Stadium.

City have already faced Scunthorpe United and FC Halifax Town this term, who both previously sat at the foot of the table, and came away with a 1-1 draw and a 1-0 defeat respectively, the latter coming on Tuesday night.

Currently ninth in the table and nine points above Torquay, the Minstermen head into this weekend's contest as the odds-on favourites with the bookmakers and hoping to turn their fortunes around against the clubs seeking to escape the bottom four.

“We should enjoy the pressure and enjoy playing in home games in front of good crowds," stressed first-team coach James.

“Torquay are bottom of the league but they’re a good team with good, experienced players in their squad and an excellent manager (Gary Johnson).

“If we have the mindset that we’ll turn up and play against the bottom of the league and roll them over, then we’re going to get another shock.

“We’re prepared and ready to bounce back. The first thing is that we’ve got to work hard and we’ve got to be smart.

“If a team is mixing it up against us, like Halifax did, going more direct and picking up second balls, then we have to play with our brains and get into positions to win more second balls.

“Teams in those positions are fighting for their lives and we’ve got to match that and act as though we’re fighting for our lives.

“We’ve got to match that first and foremost and when we get the chances to play and we can control things, we’ve got to do that.”

Since boss John Askey took charge, initially as interim manager in November, York have shown themselves as capable of responding following setbacks.

Under Askey's reign, City have lost consecutive league matches just twice - the most recent of those coming in 2-0 and 1-0 defeats at Kettering Town and Brackley Town respectively back in April in the National League North.

The newly-promoted Minstermen have bounced back to deliver positive results following losses so far this term too.

A 1-1 draw at now-fifth-placed Solihull Moors was produced after a 2-1 defeat at Maidstone while victories at Maidenhead United (1-0) and Barnet (5-0) followed losses to Eastleigh (1-0) and Notts County (3-1) respectively.

“We know we’re more than capable, it’s just the mindset," insisted James. "Our mindset has to be the same week-in, week-out, no matter who’re playing against.

“We can’t just adjust it for big games and then come into games against what the table says are inferior opposition and perform like we have done when we’ve been flat against teams at the bottom end of the table.

“The biggest thing is that we have to out-work every team that we play against. That’s the marker for us and we’ve done that a lot this season, that’s why Tuesday was as disappointing as it was.

“This is a chance, at home, to bounce back and put in a really good performance."