MANAGER Sam Collins believes a York City victory at Northallerton Town tonight could re-ignite the team’s winning mentality.

City go into the North Riding County FA Senior Cup first round tie at the Step 6 outfit off the back of three successive National League North defeats – most recently Saturday’s 4-1 loss to Bradford Park Avenue.

And boss Collins - who fields a mixture of senior and youth players - is looking for a determined response to get City back to winning ways, coupled with individual performances that stake claims for a shirt for this weekend’s FA Cup tie at League Two Swindon Town.

He said: “The opportunity is there for everyone now, and there’s no one here at this moment in time, after last week, who can nail the mast down and say ‘I deserve to play’.

“We want this place to be a place with that winning mentality and we want to get back to that, because we were getting there, but that week we had was a shock to the system.

“Tonight can be the start of it again.

“We want to see the right attitude, right determination. I don’t want to see the senior players we’ve involved tonight go there and think this is just another game of football.

“You’re trying to get into the team on Saturday.

“What I’ll be saying to the players before the game is, ‘How much do you want to go and play at Swindon in the first round of the FA Cup?’ Because we’re potentially getting through to the second round if we play like we’re capable of.”