ADAM Hinshelwood believes that there is something of a fear factor surrounding his York City squad right now, which is why teams look to raise their game against the Minstermen.
After Good Friday’s showing at Gateshead ended in a 3-1 victory to York, Hinshelwood admitted that it was the best he had seen the Heed in recent times, having watched their previous matches.
The City boss thinks that teams do raise their games against his squad, especially when they are at home, due to the stadium and crowds which York attract.
Hinshelwood also expects no less from Oldham Athletic, who visit the LNER Community Stadium on Bank Holiday Monday (3pm).
“Throughout the season teams have raised their game and as a player in the National League, you’re coming to York City, it’s one of the nicest stadiums in the league, it’s packed with fans – those are the type of games you want to play in,” Hinshelwood stated.
“We’ve got to deal with that, each and every team that comes and plays us will be up for it.
“It’s how we found it on Friday against Gateshead, we’ve watched them a couple of times but it was the best we’ve seen them.
“The intensity, how they play, it’s a bit of what we’ve come up against all season.
“We’ve got to manage that for sure, and bring our intensity.
“Our intensity in the last home game in the first 20 minutes is what we have got to try and find again.
“The whole crowd will be with us, the place was absolutely buzzing, so it’s down for us to find that again.”
Hinshelwood is also expecting a mature performance from Oldham due to the experience within the visiting squad, and believes that the supporters will play a big part with a bumper crowd expected at the LNER Community Stadium.
He continued: “I went to watch them a couple of weeks back against Woking, they’ve got lots of experience in their side, lots of knowhow, and they’ll be up for the game.
“It’s a relatively close game in proximity and they will bring a lot of fans, so it’s one for us to really look forward to.
“I’m sure that our fans will turn up in huge numbers again like they always do, they will back us, and I want them to come and bring the noise like they have in recent weeks.
“I keep saying it but this is the reason I came to the club.
“It’s a massive club, it’s what we want the norm to be, a sold out home ground.
“We’ll only get that if we keep providing results and entertaining the supporters, so it’s down for us to do that again on Monday.”
City’s schedule across the Easter weekend has not been too different from their schedule if there had been a Tuesday night match after a Saturday match, with Hinshelwood using the blueprint of training for those periods for this weekend.
He’ll therefore be easing training on some of the players who have been racking up minutes lately, whilst the match will come too soon for Dipo Akinyemi.
“It’ll be Saturday off and then we’re back in training on Sunday to prepare for the game.
“The lads that need a little bit more will do a little bit more, and the lads that have been playing regular minutes will literally just do a bit of shape, a bit of set-pieces, and that will be them on Sunday.
“We won’t change our preparations, it’s similar to a Saturday-Tuesday for us. It’s important we freshen their minds up as well.
“I don’t think there’s any fresh injuries. It’s probably come a bit too soon for Dipo, but he’s working hard.
“Ryan [Fallowfield] wanted to come and be a part of the group today [Friday] so there is a good team spirit.”
