NEAL ARDLEY issued his respect to the work of Maidenhead United and Alan Devonshire ahead of the Magpies’ visit to York City tomorrow afternoon (3pm).

Despite being just one of three teams that remain semi-professional outfits in the Vanarama National League, Maidenhead have remained in the division for seven seasons despite consistently being the bookies’ favourite to suffer relegation, therefore earning the respect of York boss Ardley.

Ardley took time to pay homage to the Berkshire side and opposing boss Alan Devonshire, hoping that his City squad can remain focused against a Maidenhead outfit that have just defeated play-off occupiers Solihull Moors.

“He does a great job every year does Alan Devonshire and his staff, they’re one of those teams who are capable,” Ardley enthused.

“In the past they have beaten Notts County, Wrexham, Chesterfield, the teams at the top and they can beat anyone.

“On other days, they can lose and you wouldn’t expect them to lose.

“I think that they have threats, they are a very powerful team and I think that from watching them this season, they certainly get the ball down more than they have in the past.

“They’ve got goals in them, you can see that as they’ve been on a decent run, but certainly with their wingers, the trickery and the pace, they’ve got massive threats.

“We’ve done our game plan like we would with all teams, I’ve looked at my teams strengths and weaknesses and sometimes when the game evolves one way and it becomes a different sort of game, we can cause our own problems, we’ve got to make sure that that doesn’t happen.

“I’ve got them as ready as I can, now it’s up to them to go out and deliver.”

Ardley also confessed his respect for Devonshire, who has now been Maidenhead boss for nine years, with the pair facing one another multiple times in the dugout over the years.

“I’ve had lots (of past meetings) from when he’s been at Maidenhead, he’s a good character and he was a hell of a player, he really was at West Ham, a superb player.

“It’s great to come up against his teams, and they’re the sort of team where I’ve had Notts County at home and they’ve beat us 3-2, I’ve seen them beat Wrexham when they got promoted, they win games against teams you wouldn’t expect them to.

“They then lose games against teams you wouldn’t expect them to as well, I’m sure that’s part of budget restrictions and stuff but every year Alan’s job is to keep them in the league.

“With the recruitment they do and the work they do to make sure that they’re competitive every year is excellent.”

Ardley also doesn’t expect Maidenhead’s surprise triumph over Solihull Moors to affect tomorrow's match, with the visitors likely high on confidence after a crucial victory that took the Magpies to 14th in the National League table.

“You can have it both ways, we were due to play Dorking a while back when they just got beat 5-0 in the cup, and they’ve now gone and won a couple of league games on the trot.

“You can be a wounded animal or full of confidence, my job isn’t to worry about the opposition like that, I can’t control that.

“I can control the work I do with my team and make sure that they are cohesive, full of energy and have a high level of performance.”