ADAM HINSHELWOOD is managing the expectations of receiving the label of being the favourites for York City's match with Ebbsfleet United.

York will welcome strugglers Ebbsfleet on Saturday, who currently sit firmly to the bottom of the Vanarama National League table.

Due to Ebbsfleet’s precarious position in the fifth tier and their one win since early April, York are being labelled as heavy favourites for the match at the LNER Community Stadium (3pm), something that Hinshelwood is welcoming.

The City boss is keen to avoid allowing complacency to creep into the Minstermen’s game, and has assured his players that they will need to be at their best to avoid a potential banana skin at the weekend.

“It’s going to be like that now probably until the end of the season, we’ve got to focus on each game at a time and not get carried away with anything,” Hinshelwood admitted.

“We will do all that we can to give a good account of ourselves and a better performance, we need to keep improving our performance levels as that will be our main aim.

“It’s a real big week, a great week to look forward to and I’m sure that we will have loads of supporters come and support us both home and away in those games.

“It’s not something that we look at or brag about, that we’re the favourites going into a game.

“It’s a game of football where we know that if we’re not at our best, then we will lose.

“That’s all the focus, we want to perform better and perform for our fans to give them a good display.

“With that, we’ve got to have a high intensity, we’ll have to work extremely harder than the opposition to get anything from the game.

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“It’s where we want to be, we want to be putting ourselves up there and at this end of the table, this is where we want to be as a team and as a club.

“With that, you’re going to get higher expectations.

“You can’t afford to get any incline of complacency into your games, because the games are so tight, anyone can beat anyone on their day and we’ve got enough players with experience at this level to know that.”

Hinshelwood also gave his assessment of Ebbsfleet and their threats, expecting a side that will initiate a high press on City to try and disrupt their patient possession style.

The City boss expects to see improvement from Saturday’s 3-1 win against Biggleswade FC in the Emirates FA Cup, having been unimpressed with the performance from his side.

Hinshelwood continued: “They do like to press from the front and go man-to-man, so we’ve looked at that as well.

“We’re playing against a team that will go full throttle against us as well, so there will be no surprises on how the opposition approach the game.

“We will be wary of both, if they want to go full press or if they want to drop and get players behind the ball, we’d know what the game plan will be for both of those sort of situations and scenarios.

“It’s a tough game, they will probably feel like we will in the FA Cup [vs Wycombe Wanderers], with nothing to lose and come and throw everything at us.

“We’ve got to be ready for that, we have come unstuck against different challenges this year and ultimately need to focus on ourselves and our performance.

“We need to be better than what we was against Biggleswade.”

The Ebbsfleet contest is York’s first of three matches in seven days, with top-of-the-table Barnet visiting North Yorkshire on Tuesday evening (7.45pm), before a Yorkshire derby at FC Halifax Town the following Saturday (3pm).

Hinshelwood is excited for the prospect, admitting that it is a great time for his players to be involved in multiple high-profile matches.

“I think it’s a great time for a player at the moment, we’ve got back-to-back home games, one against the team at the top and one against the team at the bottom.

“They are both different tests but real good games to be a part of, and then a local derby away from home, then the FA Cup game.

“It’s a great time to be a player, these are the games that you want to be playing in and be a part of.

“That’s been the message really, we need to really embrace it and enjoy it because you don’t always get good week’s like this in your career.

“There are some real big games coming up and it’s a great time to be playing.”