YORK City boss Gary Mills is hoping his team can recover their fragile confidence during tomorrow night’s crucial home clash against Guiseley by keeping the contest competitive in its opening stages.

The Minstermen have fallen behind to the opposition’s first on-target effort during their last three matches and have trailed 2-0 at half-time in all of those fixtures, which ended in defeat to Dagenham (2-0), Lincoln (4-1) and Bromley (3-0).

Leeds part-timers Guiseley currently lie one place above second-bottom City on goal difference following their 3-1 home triumph against Boreham Wood and, as his team look to end a win-less run that now encompasses 16 games, Mills reasoned: “We have to stay in the game and grow our mental strength during it by doing the basics right and not conceding silly goals.

“It’s also vital we show the fans we are going to fight and battle as hard as we can to get us some points and take us nearer to getting out of the bottom four. It’s important that we win because we are four points away from fifth-bottom and there are two teams on the same points, so the chances are, if we win, we would cut that down to one.

“We’re in a horrible habit of not winning games of football, but it’s amazing how that can change with one good win. People are probably getting fed up, though, with what I’m saying and I’ve only been back here a few weeks. We’ve got to see actions, rather than words.”

Guiseley mauled the Minstermen 6-1 at their Nethermoor Park home last month after opening the campaign without a win from their opening 13 games.

That victory, though, was the first of four from their next nine league fixtures.

Mills is, therefore, not underestimating tomorrow’s visitors, but the City chief has insisted his players must not bear the psychological scars of that humiliation and must now look to turn the tables with a victory – ideally just as emphatic.

“They brought a few players in for the 6-1 game and you can see they have picked up and improved since then,” Mills pointed out. “They won on Saturday and aren’t an easy team to play at the moment, but we can’t keep getting turned over by teams as easily as we have been doing.

“That 6-1 game has gone and you have to move forward. We’ve got to try and beat them 6-1 and get a good result, because our goal difference isn’t the best either.

“But, if we win 1-0, then that’s great, or 3-0 even better. It’s all about the result now, not performances.”

Aidan Connolly has been declared fit to feature against Guiseley, but Simon Lappin (calf) and Danny Galbraith (heel) will still be missing until at least the weekend.

Midfielder Adriano Moke, meanwhile, will serve the final game of his three-match suspension and Daniel Nti is midway through a ban of the same length.

Injury-plagued Lanre Oyebanjo is also undergoing a scan on his knee problem with Mills adding: “Two or three players are not able to play who would help us out, but there’s no point going on about that.

“Aidan Connolly should be available and that’s a plus, because he’s not got going since I’ve been here.”

Mills went on to stress that his recruitment drive to bring in new players is ongoing, but remains problematic.

“I’ve been on the phone since Saturday night to try and put things right and, what I don’t get is, if you’re a player and you’re not in somebody’s side and don’t look like getting in it, then why not come out and play,” he ventured. “That’s how I felt as a player, because it was my job to play, but we’re not all the same.”