ALFRETON Town tomorrow welcome the side against whom they earned their first win in the then Conference National – hoping for three points after a tricky run of games.

The Reds’ last outing finished in a 1-0 defeat at league leaders Salford City, with Emmanuel Dieseruvwe heading in the 93rd-minute winner, although Alfreton did have a goal disallowed for offside.

Manager John McDermott has lamented his side's recent poor luck, having lost narrowly at Harrogate Town as well, but believes actions speak louder than words: "Whatever I say in the dressing rooms now isn’t going to claw anything back from this game, it’s not going to make us feel any better.

"The only comfort we’re going to get is by going out and beating York."

Neither side have claimed a home win in the two games that they have played previously.

In August 2011, Levi Mackin’s first-half penalty gave the Reds a 1-0 win at Bootham Crescent, before City won 2-0 in the reverse fixture later that term.

That was also the season when one Jamie Vardy put three past Alfreton at their North Street ground for Fleetwood Town.

Relegated in 2015 to the National League North where they stayed from 2003 to 2011, Alfreton are currently 15th in a tightly-packed table – only seven points separate Gainsborough Trinity in 18th from the Minstermen in sixth.

The Derbyshire club count three former Minstermen among their ranks – winger Adam Smith, who scored four goals in a total 43 appearances; Tom Platt, who played with the City youth side, appeared for the senior side 47 times over five years and spent time on loan at Harrogate Town; and York-born Tom Allan, who made 10 appearances for the club between 2011 and 2014.

Meanwhile, City's Josh Law is a former Alfreton stalwart, making 264 appearances for the club between 2007 and 2014, scoring 23 goals.

Manager McDermott is one of only 17 players in the English leagues to have featured in over 600 games for a single team, having made a club-record 754 appearances as a full-back for Grimsby Town over the course of 20 years.

They also have pedigree in the ranks – forward Chris Sharp is the son of Everton and Scotland legend Graeme. He started his career at Bangor City, where he netted a formidable 33 times in 40 appearances, but hasn’t scored a National League North goal since the start of September.

Town have won four of their eight games this term at North Street, holding a very respectable record of conceding an average of 0.9 goals per fixture and scoring 1.6, although they have not won there since early September.

Tomorrow’s match represents the last in a run of seven games against sides that occupy the top half of the table – including the current top four – in which the hosts have only picked up four points, one of which came from a 1-1 draw with Brackley Town.

A win tomorrow could take them as high as 10th, while a loss could see them drop to 18th.