Preparations are in place for John Askey and York City ahead of Saturday's trip to Aldershot Town in the National League, and the manager spoke to the media in the lead-up to matchday.

The Minstermen have only suffered defeat on the road twice this season, and are statistically better away than at home, also having recorded the second best defence in the league.

  • Looking ahead to Aldershot

Aldershot's recent FA Cup elimination was succeeded by the departure of manager Mark Molesley, in what could affect the players in different ways. John Askey discussed the situation and how he expects his side to play...

"You just don't know what reaction the players are going to have, and we've seen it plenty of times, where managers go on, and all of a sudden, the players pick up. It will be a little bit unknown how they are going to play, so it will make it slightly more difficult.

"There's not much of a difference between any of the teams (in the National League). If you're not quite 'on it', then you can struggle, and that's been the case for us at times, but hopefully we go down there fully prepared, and we give it a right go.

"What we hope every game is that the players go there fully fit, and first of all, we stop the opposition from playing, and then as the game goes on, we play our own game."

  • Squad and injury update

York City were left with quite an extensive injury list after the first few games, but things seem to be improving from that point of view at the moment.

"Olly Dyson has got a bruised toe, which he was struggling with, and probably should have come off on Saturday.

"We've got Fraser Kerr back now, Michael Duckworth and Paddy McLaughlin are too back in training.

"We are pretty much a fully fit squad apart from Adam Crookes and AJ Greaves. AJ fractured his jaw in an accident, so he will be out for quite a few weeks. Adam should be back in around three weeks.

"Nathan Thomas is still quite a bit away from being fit enough to start a game."

  • Pre-game preparations and routines

Long travels down south, like the trip to Aldershot, can be quite tiring journeys, and the manager talked us through the pre-match routines and how the players manage it. 

"Travelling is something that you're used to as a footballer, it's the worst part of being a footballer. You can't do very much, it's very mundane.

"To be honest, it's quite a tight-knit squad, they do seem to get on. They keep themselves entertained, obviously you get little groups who do certain things, but I've found it better what we do when we stay overnight - we go down on the Friday and then train in the afternoon, and it's worked so far.

"We're training at Farnborough's main ground this time. We just stick to the routine, and hopefully we can get the result."