GARY Mills has told his York City side to expect a “hostile” afternoon and a “proper Cup tie” when they visit South Shields at the end of the month.
The Minstermen have been drawn away at the Evo-Stik North league leaders in the FA Cup’s third qualifying round on Saturday, September 30 and Mills believes Mariners Park will be heaving for the occasion.
Shields took 600 supporters to their 3-0 victory at Darlington in the tournament over the weekend, having also attracted a crowd of 1,420 for a 3-1 preliminary round triumph against Bridlington, with Mills stressing: “It will be hostile and a proper cup tie.
“South Shields are a well-supported club and the stadium will be absolutely packed. But, whatever the atmosphere or occasion, the most important thing is to get through to the next round.”
The draw also means Mills has now landed an away FA Cup tie in seven of the eight times he has entered the hat during two spells in charge of the Minstermen – the exception being a 2012 first round home clash against AFC Wimbledon.
But City’s form on the road in 2017 has been much better than at Bootham Crescent and, on his unusual record, Mills admitted: “I’ve never been a lucky manager when it comes to getting home draws in the Cup and that’s been the case again.
“It’s always nice to be drawn at home, but we won’t let the fact that we’re not bother us. It’s certainly an interesting one, with it being last season’s FA Vase winners v the FA Trophy winners.”
Mills didn’t get the chance to watch Shields defeat Cleethorpes 4-0 at Wembley, as he prepared his team for their 3-2 triumph over Macclesfield on Non-League Finals day, but he reasoned that game would probably reveal little about what to expect from this contest, explaining: “Quite a few of their players, including a couple of strikers, have left since then anyway.”
The City boss was unsure too whether he would watch Shields’ league match at Ossett Town last night, revealing that he is familiar with the club’s threats, having worked with a number of their players in the past.
“I know what South Shields are all about,” Mills pointed out. “They have quite a few players who were at Gateshead with me like Jon Shaw, Craig Baxter, Carl Finnigan and Dillon Morse and the last two scored the goals that knocked Darlington out 3-0 at the weekend, which was a great result.
“They’re on a roll going for promotion, but they will probably look at the draw similarly to us. They would have wanted something better, but you deal with what you’re given.”
The Mariners are also captained by former Middlesbrough and Sunderland Premier League campaigner Julio Arca, but Mills will be more focussed on his own side’s strengths, rather than paying special attention to the 36-year-old veteran.
“He has quality, of course, but we’ll let them worry about us and, if we put in a performance like we did at Salford, then we can get through,” the ex-Wrexham manager said.
City travel to National League North leaders Harrogate Town this weekend, prior to switching attentions back to the Cup and, with top-scorer Jon Parkin doubtful due to his reservations about playing on 3G pitches, his most natural replacement Michael Rankine has not yet recovered from the high blood pressure problem that ruled him out of Saturday’s 2-1 triumph at Salford.
“He still isn’t right yet and we won’t know if he will be OK for the weekend until the back end of the week,” Mills declared.
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