YORK City manager Neal Ardley has credited Southend United manager Kevin Maher for his work with the Shrimpers, and admitted that tomorrow’s visitors deserve to be top of the league without their points deduction.

Ardley will take charge of his second match as York manager on Saturday at the LNER Community Stadium (3pm), with bottom-of-the-table Southend the visitors to North Yorkshire.

Southend have been struck by a points deduction that sees Maher’s side adrift at the bottom of the Vanarama National League, something which Ardley is conscious of against a side that have performed admirably despite their off-the-field issues.

Ardley is expecting a tough clash against the Shrimpers, admitting that the away side had a strong squad that could cause the Minstermen plenty of problems.

“Massive credit to Kevin and his team for what they’ve been through, I’ve sat in their office and you could write a book about it.” Ardley praised.

“But they have got very good players, and he’s somehow kept that group together.

“I go through every player in that team and there are three or four at least that I would pay money for, that’s the truth of it, I would go out and say go spend money and get him.

“I’m not going to mention them because it’s not fair for me to do, but they’ve got a really good system of play.

“They’ve got a real togetherness because of what they’ve been through and it’s created that. All of their problems are well in advance compared to us, which seems strange to say when you look at the backing this club has had, but they are a really, really good team.

“I do all of my homework on other teams and look at all of the data, and they should be top of the league based on expected points and based on their performances this season.

“We should be playing top of the league, but instead because of what’s happened to them they are down at the bottom.

“For me, this is a super, super tough game, I’ve spent ages watching them and the way they work, function and their cohesion is really good.

“If we come out of tomorrow with a positive result, the boys would have played exceptionally well to get it, because they are so good.

“If I look at potentially the first seven fixtures York City had compared to their next seven, they’ve had the run where they should of got two or three wins in.

“They’ve now got a run where they will have done well to get two or three wins in, there’s no doubt it’s a massive challenge.”

Ardley is hoping that three points could provide a much needed influx of confidence for his City side, and hopes it can provide some relief for the York supporters.

“Of course I want the win, for myself and for the fans to say ‘thank god for that’, and for the players for the belief they will give them for the confidence.

“When we’re going Saturday to Tuesday, that momentum will carry on into Tuesday and so on.

“I can’t guarantee it, because we’re playing against a team that at the minute are probably in a better place than us, but what I can guarantee is that I’ve worked five days this week on every element we need.

“Fitness, recovery, strategy, patterns, passing, how we’re going to implement our philosophy onto the game and particularly how we’re going to work without the ball, because if we don’t they will cut through us like a knife in butter.

“Every base we’ve covered, hopefully the boys will go across the field tomorrow and put in a performance full of beans, what will happen as a result, who knows?

“On a personal level I have slept about three hours this week, there’s so many things on my mind at the moment that always kicks in as you’re about to go to sleep!

“There’s been a little bit of reflection on the first game, there’s a little bit of emotion around it and as we all know the heat was unbearable last week.

“We’re slowly trying to change a few things around the changing ground, that I didn’t do in the first two days, I’m trying to make plans to improve the changing ground which is a little bit more long-term.

“I’ve had a meeting with Matt (Uggla, chairman), David Stockdale and Darren Kelly, we’ve looked at the squad and the balance of it, we’re sort of doing all of that background stuff whilst on the same vein on the pitch trying to do the same things on the pitch.

“Tuesday was a double session with a lot of fitness work on Tuesday afternoon, so the boys were still feeling it on Tuesday.

“We’re trying to get the messages across for the performance tomorrow.”