NEAL ARDLEY is ‘under no illusions’ about the challenge York City face when travelling to AFC Fylde on Saturday, November 11 (3pm).

Fylde currently find themselves on an upturn of form after a slow start to the season, following the club's decision to part ways with head coach Adam Murray and to appoint former Carlisle United boss Chris Beech as interim boss.

Ardley remains wary of the side he is about to face, and identified Nick Haughton as the hosts main threat, with City looking to add three points at the weekend.

“I am under no illusions about how tough the game is going to be, but we’ve got to try and stay as competitive as we possibly can at the moment,” Ardley admitted.

“They’ve been really good in the last two games, really impressive and were excellent against Oldham.

“There’s some good pace in their side, some good movement, a lot of players I looked at when I was Notts County manager for signing.

“I know their threats and we’re getting them at the wrong time.

“We collect data and stats and look at where they should be in the league based on their performances, but they’re down as an 11th or 12th place team in the league, they just haven’t got the points to match their performances.

“Whatever has happened they have reacted really quickly, confidence is also another great thing that you need.

“They beat Oldham 3-0 and then went with an excellent game plan away to Gateshead who, as we know, play some great football but they really caused Gateshead some problems with Gateshead’s ability to play their own game.

“They executed their game plan really well, and put in a good performance against Sutton in the cup.

“If I was Cooky (Paul Cook) at Chesterfield and my team was in the play-offs, then I would focus entirely on my team and not worry so much about the opposition because of the quality of players they have got.

“But where we are we have got to get the balance of us and what we’re capable of, not making that too complicated, and then making sure we’re not chasing the game because we don’t have a clue what to do without the ball.

“There is a structure in both, is it the way I want to play and as attacking as I want to be? No.

“But I’ve got to work with the group we’ve got and try to get the qualities out of them to make them competitive.

“I think we have, we’ve been here 14 games and lost 4, with Barnet and Chesterfield being two of them.

“We’re a little bit harder to beat, but when we lost Dipo to injury and Dan Batty, then we lacked that little bit of pizazz and creativity.”

Ardley hasn’t locked horns with Beech in the dugout, but remains confident he can identify the key dangers for Fylde on Saturday.

“I’m sure I’ve come across him in a coaching capacity, I’m not so sure in management.

“He’s done a fantastic job in a short time, I know Adam Murray well and came across Adam when he was at Mansfield.

“He’s done a great job there and it’ll be a tough game.

“Nick Haughton has been on everyone’s radar for a long, long time and he’s a very good player.

“He’s got very good stats for a ten, with goals and assists, you can say he’s there main man.

“But then they’ve got Luke Charman, who is very good at top, they’ve got their wingers who are quick and their full-backs have been bombing on.

“People might look at our team and say they’ve got to stop Dipo when he plays, and that might be our problem, we haven’t got enough outside of one or two that can open them up.

“A team with goals from different areas of the team is better than one man, the problem we face is that we’re playing a team with momentum, who are in good form and believe in themselves.”