YORK City old boy John McCombe is hoping his former team can beat the National League drop, but insisted there will be no favours at Macclesfield on Tuesday night.

Nor is the 31-year-old defender who, now on the Silkmen’s books, is in any mood to miss out on his first chance to win a tournament as a professional player when the two clubs meets at Wembley on May 21 in the FA Trophy final.

Macclesfield currently sit ninth in the table but, due to their progress in the Trophy, FA Cup as well as postponements at their Moss Rose base, they have four games in hand to bridge a nine-point gap to the play-offs.

The midweek home match with the Minstermen, therefore, will be as vital to the hosts as it is to their third-bottom visitors, who McCombe believes are stronger than their league position suggests, having only lost two of their last 19 contests.

“We need a win to keep up with the play-off pace, but it’s imperative that York get points in their situation as well, so I think it will be a tough game,” the former Port Vale centre back reasoned. “Results seem to have picked up a lot recently and there are a lot of new players, who are experienced and have been there and done it.

“I also spoke to my brother (Jamie) at Lincoln and he told me York did quite well in the Trophy semi-final against them. I enjoyed my time at York and it’s a good club, but things haven’t gone well over the last two years.

“I’d never have thought the club would be in this position when we were trying to get in League One through the play-offs. Everything seemed to be moving forward on and off the pitch back then with the training ground improvements and I thought we’d carry on trying to get in the League Two play-offs the following season.

“But a few things have contributed to things going backwards. Mistakes have probably been made in all areas of the club and, hopefully, it’s something everybody there has learned from.

“I’m hoping the club stay up and then can kick on next season, but only after losing to us twice. Throughout the season, we’ve done pretty well and have been pretty consistent.

“We’ve just got to pick up points now from our games in hand and we’ll be in the top five. It’s going to be a tough run-in with two games a week right the way through, but we’re definitely good enough to make the play-offs, based on the season we’ve had.”

Looking ahead to Wembley, meanwhile, McCombe admitted the appeal of facing his ex-employers was tempered by the fact that he will be missing out on a unique chance to play against his brother on the hallowed turf.

“I had mixed emotions a bit about the semi-final,” the Pontefract-born defender confessed. “Playing York will mean I’m up against my old team and I still know quite a few people from there but, if Lincoln had got through, I could have been playing against my brother and that would have been a great day for the family to see us both at Wembley.”

In terms of his job under the famous arch, meanwhile, McCombe argued that he would have been in for a similar afternoon if he was facing off against Lincoln man-mountain Matt Rhead, as he will be when he takes on City giant Jon Parkin.

“In terms of who we’ll be up against, it would have been difficult either way, if it was Matt Rhead or Jon Parkin,” he said. “I’ve played against Jon quite a few times, including against Fleetwood for York in the play-offs.

“He’s a good player who has played at a high level and is definitely hard to play against. He’s not just a big target man either.

“He’s got a good touch and is a good finisher, who knows the game well. He’s hard for any team to mark in this league, but Vadaine Oliver and Amari Morgan-Smith are a couple of decent strikers as well.”

Often disparaged as a Mickey Mouse competition or tin-pot trophy, McCombe is no critic of non-League football’s showcase knockout tournament either, as it is likely to hand him his first chance to perform at the modernised national stadium.

“I played at the old stadium in an England Schools tournament when I was ten, but I’ve never played at the new Wembley,” he pointed out. “I don’t think you get as many chances in the Football League, but in the Trophy you only have to get through five ties and you’re there.

“I’ve not played in many competitions during my career that my club was capable of winning. That was never going to happen in the FA Cup or League Cup and I never really had a good run in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy, so this is a great chance to lift a cup.

“We’re really looking forward to it, especially with it coming after the season is over.”

McCombe will not be the only former Minsterman, hoping to derail their old club’s relegation dogfight and also prevail under the world-famous arch.

Macclesfield also include Scott Flinders and Luke Summerfield in their ranks, having assembled a squad, whose reported wage bill of £250,000 is at least a quarter of their North Yorkshire opponents.

“We’ve got a really small budget, but a team of good players has been put together with that,” McCombe declared. “It’s been good for me to have a couple of familiar faces around and Scotty has been brilliant since coming in.

“Summers has also been picking up man-of-the-match awards recently.”