WHITBY Town joint-manager Lee Bullock believes today's FA Cup trip to York City is a "perfect" one as "all the pressure" will be on his former side.

Bullock made more than 180 appearances for the Minstermen across two spells before moving to the Seasiders in 2013.

Alongside Nathan Haslam, he took over as joint manager following boss Chris Hardy's resignation last year.

He faced City in a pre-season friendly earlier this year, when former Whitby midfielder Mackenzie Heaney scored in a 2-1 York win, but this will be his first competitive meeting with the Minstermen as boss.

Bullock and Haslam have guided Whitby to a superb start in the Northern Premier League premier division, where they sit third after 10 games.

Things "went wrong" on Tuesday night, Bullock admitted, as a below-par Whitby fell to only their second league defeat of the campaign, going down 1-0 at home to Stalybridge Celtic.

But a no-pressure trip to the LNER Community Stadium in the third round qualifying of the Cup today (3pm) could be the best way for the Seasiders to get back in the groove.

“It’s perfect," commented Bullock of the timing.

"We’ve had two games against teams lower than us and the expectation is that you win.

“This time we’re the underdogs.

“All the pressure is on York. It’s a free hit for us.

“If we get beat 3-0, no one bats an eyelid. If we win, it’s a big story."

On his thoughts when seeing Whitby had drawn York, he added: “I was hoping for it, to be honest. The ideal would have been York at our place.

“This is the first first tie we’ve had that excites me.

“From our point of view, it’s like drawing Man United. I think everyone would have wanted this and is looking forward to a day out."

Whitby have won seven, drawn one and lost two of their opening league games, conceding just five goals in the process, and have a game in hand on the top two. Four of those wins have been on the road.

In the Cup, the Seasiders have won 4-0 at Step 4 sides Warrington Rylands and 3-0 at Prescot Cables.

Jacob Hazel, who netted a brace in Warrington, leads the goalscoring charts with eight, followed by Marcus Giles (4) and Josh MacDonald (2).

Bullock says he has been watching highlights of York games, particularly recent ones, and had them watched both on Saturday at Darlington and Tuesday night against Hereford.

“We’ll be prepared," he said. "We don’t need to concentrate on York too much.

“It’s a free hit for us and it’s about our players doing themselves proud.

"We’re in a good place," he continued.

“We know the levels of York, being full-time - if they’re not on it on the day, York will punish us.

“The challenge is for us to be up there and embrace it."

Though Bullock will be facing a club on whose books he spent seven years on top of a youth career, he will be coming to new surroundings.

On the Community Stadium, he said: “I’m looking forward to seeing it.

“The York part of me would have loved it to be at Bootham Crescent.

“But we’re going to a top-of-the-range stadium and that’s got its plus points."