STEVE WATSON has reaffirmed his desire to get his York City team to Wembley following the FA Trophy third qualifying round draw.

Coincidentally, the tie has pitted the Minstermen against Altrincham - the side that knocked them out of the FA Cup last week - again at Bootham Crescent.

Before the November 23 game, however, come important National League North fixtures, with a trip to Curzon Ashton coming up on Saturday (3pm) and to the fore of Watson's priorities list.

York remain top of the table and lead the way by one point, with second-placed King's Lynn Town having played one game more.

"I'm not going to belittle the Trophy because it's a chance to get to Wembley, " Watson said.

"I'd love to take a team there as a manager.

"I've been there as a player and a coach - with Macclesfield against York.

"I would love to take this team to Wembley.

"Once the time comes, we'll start to look at how we'll approach that one.

"As we stand now, I'm fully focused on getting three points on Saturday, with the thought in the back of my mind that I'd like to be a manager to take a team to Wembley.

"We'll be taking that very seriously again but only when the time comes."

With King's Lynn seemingly gaining on City - and in impressive style, scoring 12 times in three games - Watson was asked whether this, coupled with the Cup defeat to Altrincham, would provide extra incentive for York to get back to winning ways.

But the York boss is not interested in worrying about that which York cannot affect.

"They were only ever eight points behind us because they had played two games less," he said.

"We could never have any influence over what they did with their games in hand. Things like that are completely out of our control.

"They could even have been ahead of us.

"We don't worry about where anybody else is. We've just got to keep our heads down and try to keep cracking on."

Watson indicated earlier that it will not be York City's poor form at Curzon Ashton's Tameside Stadium - which has seen three defeats from three visits so far - that his side collectively focus on, rather getting back to winning ways in the league.

And York's form on the road this season might mean a jaunt away from Bootham Crescent could be just the ticket.

In the away form table, City are steaming ahead of second-placed Chester - who have played one game more - by six points, having picked up 20 in all. Their goal difference of plus 12 is the best across the Premier League, EFL and National League.

Watson added: "Our travelling fans have been great and our record away from home has been excellent.

"We should be buoyed by that but certainly not to the point where we take anything lightly."