CURZON Ashton will be hoping to maintain their unbeaten record against York City tomorrow – in what will be the clubs’ first-ever league meeting.

The teams have only met twice before - when squaring up in the FA Cup fourth qualifying round in October last year.

The Nash - then of a lower division, given City were in the National League - took the Minstermen back to Greater Manchester after a 1-1 draw at Bootham Crescent and then won the replay 2-1.

Now, they sit one point and one position above ninth-placed City in the National League North table.

Both sides hold similar records, winning and losing six games each, but the visitors have earned a point from the one game extra they have played.

Joe Guest – a name that will be familiar to the Minstermen faithful, given he scored on both occasions in the Cup for The Nash – grabbed a very late equaliser at Brackley Town back in September, with the point he gained currently separating the sides.

The ferocious midfielder is joined in the side by products of the Manchester City and Huddersfield academies in Paul Marshall and forward Max Leonard respectively. A threat in front of goal, Leonard has scored four times in only two appearances.

Curzon’s head coach, Mark Bradshaw, made a single appearance in a York City strip during a 1990 loan spell from Blackpool, while manager John Flanagan’s son, Aaron, splits his allegiance between The Nash and the Minstermen after developing a fondness for the club through a friend who studied at York.

Formed in 1963 by a then 13-year-old Harry Twamley, the current chairman, Curzon have been a constant fixture in the National League North since they earned back-to-back promotions from the Evo-Stik League north and premier divisions in 2014 and 2015.

This season, the Ashton-under-Lyne club have run almost the full gamut of league positions, starting the campaign on the front foot with a home win against North Ferriby United which took them to top spot, but four losses from the subsequent six games saw them slip to 18th.

Curzon have seen goals scored in every league game they have featured in so far this term – in fact, their last 0-0 draw came seven months and 22 matches ago.

They are, however, the only side in the division’s top 10 with a negative goal difference, having scored an average of 1.3 goals per league game so far this campaign and conceded 1.6. In away games, the goals scored tally drops to 0.7 and goals conceded rises to 2.4.

Last week, they were sunk by a 69th-minute Ashley Worsfold penalty in a 1-0 loss at 18th-placed Gainsborough Trinity.

A win tomorrow could see The Nash rise to sixth – into the all-important top seven – while a worst-case scenario loss, with all the teams below them winning, could see them drop to 15th.