YORK City skipper Sean Newton has a double incentive to do well in tonight’s National League North home clash with Stockport County.

Newton, 29, has stressed, first of all, that the Minstermen must get their first three points on the board as swiftly as they can to prevent it from becoming a psychological barrier following Saturday’s 1-0 opening-day defeat to Chorley.

As a former Stockport player, who scored six goals in 50 games after current boss Jim Gannon signed him in March 2012 during his second of three spells at the Edgeley Park helm, also wants to impress in front of his old manager.

On the challenge his old club will provide, Newton said: “They’re favourites to win the league and have signed well over the summer. I know the manager really well and they’ll be tough to beat, because he’s very thorough and they’ll have a game plan to stop us playing.

“When you’re playing against an old manager, you always want to do well and it will be a great atmosphere as you’re talking about two very big clubs at this level. It’s probably a bigger game for us now because, the longer you go without that first win, the harder it becomes, so we want those three points as soon as possible.”

Newton has retained the captain’s armband this season, despite former skipper Russ Penn and others in contention for the role and, while grateful to manager Martin Gray for sticking by him, the former Wrexham left-back declared that his attitude would not have altered had he been relieved of that duty.

“We’ve got some good, experienced players – Russ especially – and, if the gaffer had taken the captaincy off me, I wouldn’t have spat my dummy out,” Newton added. “I’d have shaken the hand of whoever had been made captain, wished them all the best and got right behind them.

“Nothing would have changed. I’d have carried on with what I was doing, but I’m thankful the gaffer has stuck with me.”

Newton has also kicked off the campaign in his preferred position of left back, having filled a variety of roles during the last two seasons, even ending 2017/18 up front.

On the possibility of an extended run in one spot, Newton confessed: “I’d rather play one position all season to get more consistency and I think I’ve struggled a bit playing a number of different positions but, if the manager needs me to do that again, I will do.”

The Liverpool-born defender was partnered with forward Alex Kempster on the left flank at the weekend in Gray’s 4-4-2 formation and. on his display, Newton said: “I thought he did really well.

“He was maybe trying too hard towards the end to make something happen and that can become a disadvantage rather than an advantage. But he was causing them all kinds of problems in the first half and should have had a penalty.

“He tried to get his crosses in but, if not, he gave me the ball and I feel we can build a good relationship.”

On the Chorley defeat, meanwhile, Newton said: “We started really well but lost our way a bit after their goal when their player had the time to take a touch and shoot. They then sat really deep and just made big clearances and it turned into a scruffy game on a scruffy pitch and we couldn’t pass the ball around like we did in pre-season.

“They get to the play-offs every year and are a horrible team who don’t give you a minute. They grind results out, especially at home and that’s what they did against us. They stopped us playing and forced their game on us and we didn’t do enough to get the point we needed.”