YORK City manager Neal Ardley has called for his side to match the desire and commitment of Needham Market when they meet in the Fourth Qualifying Round of the Emirates FA Cup tomorrow afternoon (3pm).

Though City are widely expected to beat their Southern League Premier Division Central opponents at the LNER Community Stadium, Ardley is well aware of the upsets that the competition is famed for.

In fact, Needham have already defeated higher opposition in the competition, beating the Vanarama National League North’s Peterborough Sports 3-0 in their Third Qualifying Round replay.

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There is undoubtedly expectation upon Ardley’s side to secure victory, but he admits that being underdogs can be a good thing.

“Being an underdog, it’s nice sometimes,” he stated.

“I hope that we have it and that we get to experience it because in the Third Round, we could be playing a side in the Premier League as a free hit.

“We can go out, we can come up with a game plan, now we’re going to try and win it.”

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The benefits and financial incentives of an FA Cup run can be seismic to clubs further down the footballing pyramid, and Ardley is expecting to face a Needham Market side who will be fired up in their quest to continue in the competition.

Needham manager Kevin Horlock is no stranger to the FA Cup, having turned out for Premier League Champions Manchester City during his playing career.

His Suffolk-based side have already overcome FC Romania and Hashtag United to reach this stage, and earned a trip to Sky Bet League One side Burton Albion on their first appearance in the First Round Proper last term.

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As such, Ardley has stressed to his players that they must not become complacent in believing that they will simply stroll to victory.

“In these times, the first message that I’ve got to get across to the players is that if the opposition are more motivated for this Cup tie, we’re going to have a very, very tough afternoon.

“That’s the first message, and the most important one.

“How often in the FA Cup do you see a group of players two or three levels below another team and they raise their game and run harder?

“They put themselves out there, the team turn up and think that it’s going to be alright, but all of a sudden the game’s gone the other way.

“That’s the most important thing, the quality, and all that other stuff, needs to come after it.

“But first and foremost, if we don’t turn up as motivated as them, if not more, to win this game, we’re going to have a really tough afternoon.”