NEIL COX sees Eastleigh’s Silverlake Stadium as a ‘difficult place to go’ ahead of York City’s return to the Vanarama National League on Saturday, October 21 (3pm).

After defeating Needham Market over 180 minutes in the Emirates FA Cup, York’s attention will now turn back to the league ahead of the long trip down to Eastleigh on Saturday.

Assistant manager Cox is expecting a tough challenge against Richard Hill’s side, who he was pleased to see in the hot seat for the Spitfires.

“There’s a lot of changes, a new manager has come in and finally taken the job." Cox explained.

“I’ve not seen a lot of them with the FA Cup game we have been concentrating on that.

“The manager has done his own homework already, they will be big, strong and organised and it’s a difficult place to go, it always is.

“They’ll play forward, will get in your face and will be difficult on set-plays.

“We’ve done a bit of work this morning and we’ll do a bit of work tomorrow.

“We’ve played against him(Hill, Eastleigh manager) in pre-season a couple of times and have been in his company a couple of times.

“I’m pleased he’s got the job, he’s got an opportunity to do it the way he’s wanted it to be and he’s no longer in the background.

“They’ll be strong, they’ll be tough and they’ve only had a month so the manager will be trying to get his points across.

“We’re going down tomorrow and training at Northampton, this is my first time where we do this with York City.

“We train at Northampton, get a little bit of lunch on the coach, go back to the hotel and back to normal really.

“It’s a long journey and with the weather as well, it’s going to be a long one but it’s pass and parcel of football.

“That’s our fault for not getting the game sorted in that first home round of the FA Cup.

“Now it’s going to be difficult going away to Eastleigh and an away game on Tuesday as well.

“It’s going to be a long week.”

Cox’s side will also look to keep one of the National League’s leading goalscorers at bay, with Paul McCallum leading the line for Eastleigh, someone that Neal Ardley and Cox once signed whilst in charge of AFC Wimbledon.

“We’ve known Paul a long time, we took him on loan to Wimbledon from West Ham many years ago.

“He’s a goalscorer, he’s good in the air and brings people into play.

“His goalscoring record is good, we’re going to have to make sure we defend properly against him and stop the crosses from coming in.

“In the air he’s really good, and he does sniff out goals.”

Cox also offered his thoughts on the surprise departure of Eastleigh playmaker Charlie Carter, who shocked Spitfire supporters when making the move to Dorking Wanderers.

“It’s always difficult when people move, but this league is still open and people can still make transfers, anything can happen.

“It’s good for clubs because we can still have a look about and see if there is anything for us at this level, but whatever happens at other clubs you don’t know, anything can happen behind-the-scenes, maybe the move was due.”