YORK City manager Neal Ardley is expecting a tough challenge as his side travel to Woking this lunchtime (12.30pm).

The Minstermen will be hoping to bounce back from Tuesday’s 2-0 defeat at managerless Oldham Athletic in Surrey, having secured their first victory of the season at home to Southend United last weekend.

Having been critical of his side’s attacking edge at Boundary Park, Ardley made his first signing on Thursday evening, with Barnsley striker Aiden Marsh likely to be handed his debut at Woking.

Darren Sarll’s side have made a strong start to the season in their hopes for another play-off finish, currently occupying sixth place in the Vanarama National League table after winning four and drawing four of their opening 10 fixtures.

City have a strong recent record against the Cards, having kept clean sheets as they completed the double over their opponents last term, but Ardley believes his side can take nothing for granted.

With Woking well-known for their athleticism and pressing tactics, he concedes that his side will have to differ from their slow, possession-based football at Oldham.

“I know Darren really well,” Ardley explained. “He’s a good friend.

“They’re extremely powerful, athletic, and one of the best pressing teams in the league with and without the ball. The intensity that they work at is immense.

“If we think that we can go and dominate the ball and pass it around like we did at Oldham, we’re going to come a cropper going to a team like Woking and just trying to play nice, slow football at the back.

“That’s like saying ‘we’re going to give you everything that you want and you’re going to be really, really good at winning the ball back from us and creating chances.

“We’ve got to come up with a way of trying to give ourselves the best chance of causing them problems.

“There’s got to be a balance in there somewhere.”

Ardley admits that he enjoys the challenge of working out the best ways to break down opponents each week, but is still learning the best use of his players at City.

“Yes, it is [a challenge he enjoys], I’ve had it with different teams.

“It’s easy when you’ve got different options and a different armoury within your dressing room. Obviously, me and the players are still all getting to know each other.

“It’s a shame because I had that initial first week where I got to do some work on the training field, and now it’s just a case of recovering and trying to get ready for the next game.

“Trying to teach them the best way of trying to get a result away at Woking, it’s not going to be easy.”

Despite the challenges Woking pose, the City boss is keen to see his players perform in front of the TNT Sports cameras.

The fixture is City’s first televised match this season, with their Yorkshire derby against FC Halifax Town next month also selected for broadcast.

“I’ve always found that the TV games should bring the best out of everybody,” he admitted.

“Whenever I’ve had my teams, we’ve always done okay on the TV games and have performed well, so I’d like to think that that’s going to be the case.

“If you can’t get up for being on TV and trying to impress and play well, then you never will.

“Hopefully it will help us and give us an extra bit of encouragement, not that we should need any, and we can put in a good performance.”