YORK City manager Steve Watson is not overly concerned about the result tonight as his side start building towards next campaign.

Championship outfit and Yorkshire rivals Leeds United are the visitors to Bootham Crescent (7pm), where both sides kick off their pre-season fixture lists.

Despite a couple of twinges - nothing out of the ordinary for pre-season, Watson assures - the boss is hopeful nearly all of his squad will be fit.

With an eye on the 2019/20 National League North season-opener at Altrincham on August 3, Watson is looking to mix youth and experience to get as many minutes as possible into his side to precipitate a positive start to the season.

"The whole of pre-season is getting geared up towards playing Altrincham," said Watson. "So we're doing all we can to make sure everyone is firing for that day and if we have to give people a chance to get injuries right, we'll have to do that.

"Every manager will tell you they want a full pre-season out of everybody but you rarely get that.

"My plan for tomorrow, because it's our first game, is still to do what's best for York and get half a game into most people.

"I think York City fans are fully aware of the void in class between Leeds and York at the moment.

"I wouldn't say the result is ever irrelevant but, for me, tomorrow is more about getting valuable minutes and valuable experience into the lads.

"They're playing against some of the best players in the Championship and around the country.

"As pre-season wears on, you'll see me looking closer to what I'm hoping to start with.

"Certainly this game and, to an extent, Bolton, you'll see me getting minutes into everyone.

"Everybody, from tomorrow, is trying to to do everything they can to get into the team against Altrincham.

"We had a good pre-season last year at Gateshead and started the season well, in and around the play-offs most of the season. That has to be the aim for York.

"But at Gateshead, we didn't play anybody that much higher than us - Blyth, North Shields, (Newcastle) Benfield.

"Teams you would expect a National League team to do well against.

"This year, we're playing Leeds, Bolton, Notts County, Hartlepool. They're all above us so it's a different kind of pre-season but that's not to say we won't, maybe in another week's time, put out a strong team and absolutely have a go at pre-season.

"Tomorrow being our first game, it's more about getting minutes into people."

In this fixture last pre-season, Leeds manager Marco Bielsa fielded a mix of young stars and first-team players, with former City striker Ryan Edmondson and i2i Academy graduate Ronaldo Vieira featuring alongside Polish international Mateusz Klich and York-born Jack Clarke, who recently signed for Tottenham Hotspur. The York-born 18-year-old will be loaned back to Leeds for the coming season.

The 1-1 draw was probably the fair outcome of a game where a sub-par Leeds were pressured well by York, for whom triallist Joe Tait scored the goal.

On early season form last term, Leeds seemed a good bet to be making a return to the Premier League, but their challenge faded during the early portion of the run-in.

Leeds' Swedish defender Pontus Jansson has joined Championship rivals Brentford, while winger Helder Costa has come in from Wolves, initially on a one-year loan deal, and forward Rafa Mujica signs on a three-year deal from Barcelona 'B'. He will first link up with the Under-23s.

Watson added: "The fact that we're playing a team like Leeds - who had such a great season last season and were very unlucky not to be in the Premier League as we're sitting here, and the fact that they'll want to go one step better this season - gives us a chance to mix our experience.

"I wouldn't want to put my most experienced 11 out and leave a lot of inexperienced kids to play a half on their own. It wouldn't be fair or a good reflection of the squad we've got."

York City are advising fans that the Main Stand and David Longhurst Stand will be open to home supporters only. Away fans will be housed in the Grosvenor Road End and Popular Stand. All away tickets are now sold out.