YORK City will not fear taking part in a rivalry match against Hartlepool United on Saturday.

Adam Hinshelwood’s side will welcome Hartlepool United to the LNER Community Stadium on Saturday for the earlier kick-off of 12.30pm, with York expecting a bumper crowd on home soil.

It’s not something that City will fear according to manager Hinshelwood, with the boss keen that his side remain wary of the firepower within the Hartlepool ranks.

The boss is looking forward to the feel of a derby match at the LNER Community Stadium, and believes that his players will too.

Hinshelwood enthused: “I think they definitely feel a bit different, with them having a big away following and the ground being packed, they expect us, like always, to have a big following behind us and make some noise as well.

“It will have a different kind of feel, but this is what we want and it’s what we want the players to enjoy, these big games.

“It’s definitely not to fear, this is what we do it for as we want to be playing in front of packed out stadiums.

“Having that rivalry on it should make the intensity go through the roof a little bit, which is something to embrace from the players.

“They coped with it well against Barnet and I expect the intensity of this game to be similar.”

The away side have seen something of a resurgence since the arrival of interim manager Lennie Lawrence, managing five points from three matches and a 2-0 victory over Aldershot Town thanks to a brace from Mani Dieseruvwe.

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Dieseruvwe is currently Hartlepool’s top scorer with seven goals, but Hinshelwood is keen to ensure that his side don’t solely focus on one player.

“They have yeah [improved], again they have got some firepower,” Hinshelwood admitted.

“They try and play and have some firepower in their ranks, so they know where the back of the net is.

“They have some experience that have done it at a higher level than the National League before, so we’ll pay them huge respect.

“We’ve definitely looked at their last few games and have been impressed by what we have seen from them, so we’ll focus on ourselves and what we can improve on from the Wycombe game.

“At the same time, we’ll give the opposition the upmost respect because they deserve that.

“We don’t just focus too much on one player, because that would be disrespectful to the rest of the team.

“We will pay Hartlepool the respect they deserve, they are a very good side and we’ll still try and focus on what we can do and how we can get our advantages and on what we can get better on.”

Since the departure of Darren Sarll following Hartlepool’s shock Emirates FA Cup exit to Brackley Town, they have found form under the experienced interim Lawrence.

Hinshelwood has therefore focused heavily on United’s form under their interim management team, and gave his assessment of Saturday’s visitors.

“We’ve focused a lot on the last few games, we haven’t focus much on what happened before that.

“They’ve picked up some results and are a tough team to play against, they seem to be working extremely hard for the manager and you’ve definitely got to have your wits about you, because they’ve got some firepower at the top end of the pitch.

“It’s a tough game, I expect a similar sort of intensity that was played in the Barnet game to be honest, they’ll play at a real high tempo and with them bringing as many fans and the place being filled out, I expect a similar sort of intensity in this game as well.”