STEVE WATSON insists that the decision that saw York City miss out on automatic promotion has not been discussed in training and that his side need little more motivation for Saturday's play-off game.

York host Altrincham at Bootham Crescent in their Vanarama National League North semi-final at the weekend, knowing that they are two wins away from a return to the National League.

Watson's side were at the top of the table when the season was suspended, with points-per-game seeing King's Lynn going up automatically instead.

But the manager says that his side aren't looking to use that as a motivational tool, with little incentive needed to secure promotion.

“From the minute we got the lads back in, that was never mentioned because it's something that can't help us going forward," said Watson.

“Could it prove to be a motivational tool? Possibly, but it's not something we've mentioned since we got back. That's gone, it's out of our hands now.

“Whatever our thoughts over that process were, that's not going to help us at all now so that's put to bed as far as I'm concerned.

"There are certainly a lot more important things than that gone on in the last 20 weeks, so we are where we are now.

“We have got to win two games to reach the goals which we set out at the start of the season, so that's what were focusing on.

“Knowing our players and me and my ambitions, my ambition since I walked through the door was to not just get York out of this league but to go beyond that. We don't need any more motivation, really.

“We know we're capable of good performances but we're also under no illusions about the fact we haven't played a competitive game for 20 weeks, which is twice as long as I've ever not been involved in a competitive game."