FORMER Lincoln City loan striker Robbie McDaid has warned new club York City to beware of the “unplayable” Matt Rhead tonight.

The 16st 10lb behemoth has plundered ten goals this season, having netted 23 during his first campaign for the Imps last term.

McDaid netted four times and played a dozen games with Rhead during a three-month loan spell at Sincil Bank in 2015/16.

Having witnessed 32-year-old Rhead’s threat at close quarters, he now reasons that the ex-Corby Town battering ram will be the man to stop this evening.

City were given a torrid time by Dagenham target-man Oliver Hawkins during a 2-0 home defeat at the weekend and McDaid said: “In my opinion, Matt Rhead is unplayable in this league.

“His natural ability is ridiculous for a player who wasn’t coached from a young age and he is untouched in that respect. Everything about the way he looks suggests he shouldn’t be a footballer, but he’s fantastic in the way he uses his body and manipulates what he’s got. He’s a real threat.”

Omagh-born McDaid also reasoned that there are other dangermen in a Lincoln side, who have emerged as title challengers under the former Braintree management team of Danny and Nicky Cowley, but he remains confident that the Minstermen can rise to the occasion.

“Nathan Arnold is also doing well and Alex Woodyard is a good player,” McDaid added. “They are a good side from one to 11 and have strength in depth too.

“I know the Cowley brothers personally and they’ve got real ambition. They want to go from strength to strength with the club and are doing that so far but, if we get going, we are a match for any team in this league.”

McDaid went on to insist that he will not be letting a series of missed chances on his home debut at the weekend take its psychological toll ahead of this next challenge.

“I should have scored two or three goals,” he confessed. “Sticking the ball in the net is the hardest job on the pitch, but you’ve got to punish teams when you get chances.

“It’s disappointing when you’re 2-0 down and need goals and the opportunities don’t go in, but the best players in the league and in the country put that aside and deal with it. You have to be strong physically and mentally and do your job for the team.

“You can’t dwell on it, otherwise you will never score and it won’t affect me. My mindset is never negative and, if I miss ten chances, I’ll always be looking to score the 11th.

McDaid, 20, is also desperate to repay his new manager Gary Mills’ loyalty by hitting the target at least ten times between now and the end of the season.

“It’s a real feather in my cap, as a young player, for the manager to put such a great responsibility in me,” he admitted of his current starting role. “It gives me confidence and I can’t thank him enough, but I know that, if I don’t score goals, I will be letting him, the team and the club down.

“If you don’t set targets as a striker, you have to question your ambition and I want to get double figures between now and the end of the season.”

Having travelled across the Irish Sea with designs on playing in the Championship with last club Leeds, McDaid also retains lofty ambitions.

“Without meaning any disrespect, I don’t want to be in this league,” he explained. “I came here with a plan two years ago and I want to push on up the divisions and take the club to new levels.”