York end their 46 game National League schedule on Monday, having already confirmed a second-placed finish and home semi-final to take place on Tuesday, May 20.
They will finish the normal season when taking on an Eastleigh side on Monday (3pm), whose spot in the National League has already been confirmed for next season.
But despite there being very little at risk for both teams, it will remain a special match for Hinshelwood, whose family will be making the trip from Brighton to show their support.
They will also be joined by Worthing supporters, who were knocked out of the Vanarama National League South play-offs on Wednesday by Maidstone United, but are keen to see their former manager and former players, such as Ollie Pearce, Joe Felix, Harrison Male, Marvin Armstrong and Ricky Aguiar, in action.
Hinshelwood is also glad to be in a much more comfortable position with City compared to the final day of last season, where they only confirmed safety on matchday 46, admitting that it is quite the contrast between the two campaigns.
“It’s a far cry from Solihull last year and heading into that game, and although we were in a relatively good position, there was still a chance that if we conceded a few more goals, the travesty of going down could have happened,” Hinshelwood reflected.
“It’s nice to be in this position, I know that there is a large contingent of my family coming along as it’s not too far, and I’ve had a few Worthing fans saying that they are going to be coming with their Worthing flags in the away end.
“Hopefully the York City supporters will welcome them as well, Worthing of the North, as they like to call us for all of our ex-players playing.
“I’m sure there will be a big following from York travelling down, and we want to make sure that they are leaving really excited to come and be a part of it on the 20th.
“Our fans, all season, home and away, it has been unbelievable – unrivalled really.
“I just hope that they can come down and really enjoy the South Coast, make a lot of noise and get behind the team.
“They know that if they do that then they will get a team that will give their all for them out on the pitch. That’s all we can ask of the support.”
Looking to spoil York’s final day match is that of Eastleigh, who currently find themselves in 11th position, safe, and out of reach from the play-offs.
That is a result of a poor run of form for Kelvin Davies’ team, who have just one win in their last ten.
York City will meet an Eastleigh side that have just one win in ten on Monday. (Image: Tom Poole) Despite York now being unbeaten in their last seven, Hinshelwood expects a tight contest on the South Coast, believing that Eastleigh will want to generate momentum for next season.
Hinshelwood continued: “They’ll be hoping to take the scalp of York City, who finished second in the league, into next season.
“If they can do that, then it will give everyone a bit of momentum going into next Summer, and come back with a bit of momentum.
“I’m sure that will be the way they are looking at it, but we also want to keep our run.
“It’s six wins from the last seven with one draw, so it’s even undefeated and could end up being eight undefeated, with some tough games in there as well.
“Eastleigh away is a tough game as well, so we want to keep our momentum and focus on ourselves at a tough place to go and against a tough team to play against.
“Like any team, they will want to finish the season well and they’ll want to take some momentum into next season.
“Beating second in the league at home will give them that momentum, so that’s what they will be looking to do.”
Hinshelwood also anticipates a slightly more open Eastleigh team compared to the one he watched play at Barnet, especially due to their home advantage.
The York manager is aware of the attacking options the Spitfires possess, including Paul McCallum, who scored 31 goals last campaign and 28 the season before, as well as the defensive stability he believes Eastleigh have.
“They set-up in a tough shape whenever we’ve come up against them and they will make it difficult for us, they did a similar thing away at Barnet,” Hinshelwood said when asked to breakdown the opposition.
“Whether by them being at home they will try to open up a little more or come at us, I’m expecting them to do that a little bit more.
“Whatever they come up with, they’ve got enough firepower.
“They are one of these teams where if you catch them on the wrong day, then you could be on the wrong side of a hiding and are always going to be tough to play against, tough to breakdown.
“We know that we have got to be at our best, especially in the forward areas of the pitch.”
York’s preparations for the final match of the season have been longer than they would have been for a normal week of football, with a nine day break between City’s last tie against Solihull Moors, and their next game against Eastleigh.
He explained: “We gave them an extra day to recover, the players, and tried to move everything back a couple of days.
“We want to keep everything as normal as possible.
“The balance of a 46 game season, we haven’t had the 50 players that we’ve had in previous seasons and we’re trying to work with a smaller nucleus of players, so it’s about getting that balance right.
“We need to keep the players up to speed in case they are needed, even if they haven’t featured as much.
“We’re happy with how it has gone, we’ve had a bit of time off and the lads have worked well in their own time, got together today and had a bit of a recovery session.
“They’ll have a day off tomorrow [Saturday], prep on Sunday and then travel down to Eastleigh, ready to go.
“There will be no excuses, if anything a little extra break should give us a bit of extra freshness to play to a higher tempo on Monday.”
