YORK City will be wary of the task at hand when facing Oldham Athletic, according to boss Neal Ardley.

Oldham have secured three victories in their previous five matches and find themselves in the Vanarama National League play-off spots, despite a slow start to the season under former manager David Unsworth.

Since Micky Mellon’s arrival as Latics boss, Oldham are now third in the form table after a strong run of matches, with York next on their agenda.

Ardley is expecting a difficult match against a side with the third-best away form in the division, and believes City will have to perform to the highest of standards to claim anything from the contest.

“It’s hard because I’ve watched Oldham, they’re in really good form, have really strong players and a really good manager, so I know that their tough,” Ardley admitted.

“I haven’t put that onto the players, but we are going to have to play really well to get something out of this.

“You look at what we can do, how we can do it, what can we add and what can we do to cause them problems.

“We know the size of the task for the next two games, we’ve done as much work as we can today with the whole squad, making sure we know what’s coming and making sure that we know how to approach the game.

“Today some players need a light session because their legs are really heavy from Saturday, and you’ve got to get all of your tactical messages across.

“You’ve got to try and get everything right in an hour to an hour and a half long session, whilst having to do a lot of stop start training because of fatigue.”

Ardley also admitted that he has a lot of time for Oldham boss Mellon, with the pair locking horns whilst at previous clubs.

“He’s made some good signings, he’s made one or two with Andy Dallas coming in and (Joe) Garner in, he’s tweaked it a little bit.

“From what I hear from prior, he’s come in and got them a lot more organised than what they were and they’ve got good players.

“I’ve had a few (meetings) when he was at Tranmere and a few other clubs, at Fleetwood I went up against him and he’s a great guy.

I always have a beer with him after, he’s done a great job since he’s gone in and he’s got them rolling.

“We knew that the potential was there at Oldham, and change of manager has really got them rolling because they had a lot of good players there.

“He’s started to get the best out of them and he’s added more men to the team, players that know what they’re doing so that each week they give him a performance.”

Ardley also pleaded for backing from supporters with the club in a precarious position above the National League relegation zone, and hopes that the fans can continue to play a major role by backing the players.

“They’ve been brilliant, I know there were a few boos after the game due to frustration and I get that.

“Everyone gets frustrated when you don’t win a game at home, we’re working incredibly hard and I’m working day and night to get onto the next game and to be prepared for it.

“The staff are working hard, the players are giving everything and they care.

“We’ll keep giving everything, if they keep getting behind us and giving everything then that’s the best way that we want to go.

“The last thing we want as a club is to start getting a disconnect or a little bit of a divide where they’re not happy, start criticising and confidence goes.

“We need to stick together for 13 more games, two more months and try to drive the club over the line before taking it forward after that.”