York have had a poor record against Altrincham in recent years, having beaten the Robins just once in their last 12 meetings, a run stretching back as far as February 2011.
That one win came in the National League North in 2019, with David Ferguson, Joe Tait and Jordan Burrow on the scoresheet, despite James Jones opening the scoring for Altrincham early on.
Hinshelwood himself has had a difficult time when facing Altrincham, having lost 6-1 and 3-0 at the J. Davidson Stadium, but not yet facing Phil Parkinson’s side on home turf.
Altrincham’s good fortune against City has seen them become something of a bogey side for the Minstermen, with Hinshelwood confident that the record won’t be in his players thoughts when taking to the field tomorrow night (7.45pm) at the LNER Community Stadium.
“Sometimes you get those sort of teams that you struggle against for whatever reason, but I don’t think it’s in the players mindsets,” Hinshelwood admitted.
“So much has changed, we changed up the team a little bit at Altrincham and we probably didn’t get it right that day which I take full responsibility [for], so it’s not on the players.
“There were a couple of lacklustre mistakes that we got punished for, and we’re very keen as a team to try and put that right.
“Boston are the only team as of yet to do the double over us, and we don’t want that to happen too many more times this season.
“It’ll be a tough game, they’re a very good side and are coming off of the back of a defeat at the weekend, so they’ll be keen to bounce back.
“We’re keen to stay on this run that we’re on, we’ve scored some late goals of late in recent games, but it’s really helped with momentum.
“Everyone is together, the team spirit is great and you’ll see that with the players coming to support us, even in the stands.
“Everyone’s fully together and are pulling towards the same goal.”
Tuesday night’s meeting in North Yorkshire will also see the National League’s current top two leading scorers in action, with Ollie Pearce, on 22 goals, and Regan Linney, on 18 goals, both likely to start.
Hinshelwood made it clear that he would not put all of his focus on stopping Linney, and expects Altrincham to do the same with Pearce, whilst also speaking on how he expects it to be a ‘good open footballing game’ at the LNER Community Stadium.
The City boss added: “They’ve got some good firepower, with someone at the top end of the goal scoring charts themselves.
“They get lots of assists, a lot of good attacking players and try to play a certain way as well.
“I think it will be a good open footballing game, we’re hoping it’ll be a good one for the neutral.
“Ultimately, it’s one we want to come out on top of.
“I think it would be a disservice to the 20 other players that are out on the pitch, they’re not just reliant on one player.
“Obviously Ollie’s finish was the difference and he has got that in abundance, but we’ve got other players as well that can chip in and have done all season as well.
“Both teams would be stupid to just focus all of their attention on one player.”
York also have an extra incentive for the match, with a bumper crowd expected at the LNER Community Stadium.
The club are offering tickets as part of a ‘Tuesday for a Tenner’ scheme, which has seen ticket prices reduced to just £10 for adults, that can be found HERE.
Those fans in attendance could make the difference for Hinshelwood’s side, with the manager saying: “The attendances that we get both home and away are phenomenal, outstanding, and it does make a big difference for us.
“I’m not up on the stats, but in front of the South Stand I’m sure that there is a very high percentage of goals scored when the fans are in there.
“They do make a difference, I want them to come and be proud of the team, and to really cheer us on because they do make a big difference.”
