ADAM HINSHELWOOD hopes that his players can reward a packed out York City away end during their Yorkshire derby with FC Halifax Town on Saturday, October 26 (3pm).

York will look to back up their impressive 3-1 victory over Barnet in midweek by taking on a Halifax side currently struggling with inconsistency, on the verge of the play-offs and keen to break into the top seven.

With Saturday being two months since City last lost a football match, Hinshelwood is eager to avoid allowing any complacency from creeping into his side against their Yorkshire rivals in the Vanarama National League, admitting his respect for Halifax.

Despite their publicly known smaller budget in the fifth tier, Halifax have established themselves as a competitive side within the National League in previous years, having beaten eventual champions Wrexham and Chesterfield in their last two seasons.

“It’s a testament to them, the management staff and the recruitment that they do,” Hinshelwood credited.

“They must be getting something right, it’s a real tough place to go is the Shay and Saturday will be no different, we know that.

“At the same time, we’ve got to go with a bit of confidence ourselves and believe in our performances and know that if we can hit anywhere near the kind of performance level that we have reached in the past couple of games, then we will be a real test as well.

“It’s a real good game, like they all are at this level.

“You can’t afford to have any sort of off day, because you get punished. On Saturday, we have got to be up for it and find our intensity.

“It is a tough and intimidating place to go, you have got to match that intensity first and foremost and then before you allow your football to do the talking, you’ve got to match the intensity.

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“That’s what we have got to provide, first and foremost.

“I remember watching the Chesterfield game and they were worthy winners, I think it was 4-2 in the end.

“It’s a real tough place to go and they have got a really good home record, we’ve got to be at our best to get anything from the game.”

York are expected to be backed by over 1500 travelling supporters in West Yorkshire, with the club pushing for over 2000 City fans to make their way over to the Shay.

Hinshelwood hopes he can put on a performance worthy of the loyalty shown by the travelling fans, and admitted that the atmosphere often helps spur on his players to perform to a higher standard.

He continued: “They did it last year and it was almost a perfect away performance.

“We got a goal and then defended well, apart from towards the end.

“It’s such a good away end there, where all of the fans are together and it’s quite high so they can really make some noise.

“It’s an unbelievable place to play and when we see that full when we come out, it definitely spurs the team on.

“We want to give a good account of ourselves for those travelling fans as well.

“We was blown away by the following last year, we just started to win some games and they really got behind us.

“Now, with potentially double that, it’s incredible.

“It’s great to be a part of and we don’t want to let them down.

“We want to put on a display and make sure that they travel back nice and happy.

“It’ll be a tough ask, but all we can do is give our all and the players give their all once they cross that line.”

York will arrive to the Shay full of confidence after their 3-1 win over Barnet on Tuesday evening, having beaten the previous league leaders with a hard-fought display at the LNER Community Stadium.

Hinshelwood is keen to ensure that his players don’t get carried away with their impressive run of form, labelling Halifax as a ‘really tough place to go.

“It’s back to business really.

“Obviously it has been a couple of very good results for us at home against good teams, but the focus is to take that into the next challenge.

“A Yorkshire derby, away from home, with a big following expected to come to support us.

“We’ve got to look forward to that challenge now, and back up the good work that we have already done this week with another good performance.

“It’s the nature of this league, the games come thick and fast and that’s what the top teams do.

“They manage to get the previous games out of their system and move onto the next one, that’s what we have got to do.

“Obviously we have got to take some momentum and some confidence from the performances and the results from those two games, but we know that Halifax away is a really tough place to go.

“We found that last year and were disappointed not to get all three points last year, I thought that we played for large parts really well.

“We know that it’s going to be a different sort of challenge this time around, and there’s expectation.

“A real good following hopefully coming that are expecting us to put on a performance.

“We’ve got to go there with confidence, but most certainly cannot allow any bits of complacency to drop into our game because it is a real tough place to go.”