ADAM HINSHELWOOD is excited to undergo a ‘tactical battle’ with Gateshead tomorrow afternoon.

York City will welcome Gateshead to the LNER Community Stadium for their first match of 2025 (3pm) as the Minstermen look to establish their credentials as the league leaders, with Barnet taking their position on Boxing Day following the Oldham Athletic postponement.

Standing in York’s way is a Gateshead side that currently occupy fourth, and are hoping for another play-off finish in the National League after consistently impressing in the fifth tier.

It’s a tactical battle that Hinshelwood has excitement for, with the City boss believing that both sides play similar possession-based football.

“Both teams play sort of similar style, we both like to have the ball, dominate the ball and create a lot of chances,” Hinshelwood explained.

“Hopefully there will be some more goals, I think that we’re playing well, especially at home, so we want to stick to that, create chances and we know that we have forward players that can put it away.

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“It’s two similar sort of styles, we both like to dominate the ball and are very similar.

“They sort of do it with a back three and have a box in midfield and overload centrally, and we’re quite similar to that as well. It’s a real tactical battle, and one that we’ll look forward to.”

Both sides are expected to be vying for the majority of possession, with York and Gateshead holding the top two highest-average possession in the division so far this season.

“Shall we just say 50-50 each and see who comes out on top?” Hinshelwood joked.

“I don’t know, we’re at home so they might come and press us aggressively as well, we like to be on the front foot and press aggressively as well.

“It’ll be a real tactical battle and we just have to stick to our game plan and what we can do well.

“I’m sure they’ll be no different, it’s served them well and they’re a team that are used to being at the top end of the table so I’m sure they won’t change from what they do.

“It’s a very well run club off the pitch as well, they believe in their style and are obviously very well coached.

“They coach well and recruit well, that’s got the makings of a good combination.

“That’s how they do it, and behind-the-scenes and off the pitch, they have good people. It’s run very well from them to keep doing that.

“They seem to do well their managers and then move on, they get replaced, new managers come in and play a similar style and play really well.

York City celebrate scoring against Gateshead last season. (Image: Tom Poole) “That recruitment that they have at Gateshead seems to be really working for them.”

Gateshead certainly pose a large threat to City’s almost impeccable home record this season, with their recent form in front of goal being fantastic.

Carl Magnay’s side have registered 20 goals in their last four matches, eight of which came against Farsley Celtic in the FA Trophy, with Hinshelwood keen on focusing more on his side’s strengths than the opposition.

He told the Press: “We just really don’t venture too much into what we do, we focus on what we can do well and don’t like to go too much into the opposition.

“You never know, they could come and completely change their style, so we focus on what we can do well and we can create chances ourselves.

“We’ve proven so far this season that we can keep clean sheets and we’re halfway through the season, so we want to keep more clean sheets in this half than we did in the last half.

“That would be a real positive way to start the New Year and the second-half of the campaign on Wednesday.”