HARTLEPOOL United manager Anthony Limbrick is anticipating an ‘all-action’ match against York City this weekend.
Limbrick will take charge of Hartlepool as the club’s manager, having shadowed the experienced Lennie Lawrence for large parts of the season in an assistant manager role.
The two have since swapped roles with United, but Limbrick’s side have struggled as of late with just two wins since the turn of the year.
Limbrick was on the touchline in November when York battled to a 5-3 victory at the LNER Community Stadium, which included strikes from Alex Hunt, Ashley Nathaniel-George and Dipo Akinyemi, as well as a brace from Ollie Pearce.
Reflecting on the previous encounter, Limbrick told the Hartlepool Mail: "November's game seems like a long time ago, I must admit. It seems like forever.
“A lot has gone on since then in terms of changes to our playing staff, changes to York's playing staff.
"It was a really tough but interesting game. I thought York were the better team in the first half, we gave them two or three goals.
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“We conceded two from set-plays, one from a corner and another from a direct free-kick, we made a couple of individual errors and they scored a penalty late on.
“Similar to what's been happening recently, we didn't score at good times and that hindered us.
“There was a period in the second half when we got it back to 2-1 and we were really on top, kicking towards our fans.
“If we'd got that second goal and made it 2-2, then I'm pretty sure it could have been different.
"I think it will be all-action this weekend as well. They're a really good side, we respect them a lot. We'll make sure we're ready for that."
Limbrick also spoke on the transfer business which City have conducted since their last meeting, which included the addition of Josh Stones for a reported substantial fee from Wigan Athletic, despite the Minstermen already having the league’s top scorer, Pearce, in their ranks.
The Hartlepool boss labelled York as a big team thanks to their transfer spending, and also gave his opinion on the current National League title race.
"There are always a handful of teams in this league with big budgets who are looking to challenge for promotion.
"Look at Chesterfield, Wrexham, Grimsby, Notts County, having those sort of teams in the division makes the league exciting.
“You want to play against the biggest sides in the league and I think you could argue that there are a few teams in the league this year that are Football League teams in terms of budget, squad size and quality of players.
“York are one of those, and they'll be looking to get up this year.
"He (Pearce) is clearly a good player and he's done really well this season,
"He's had a few slightly different roles since Stones has come in, they've been trying to fit them both into the team. That's an interesting narrative.
"They've got some seriously good players and Pearce is one of them, there's no doubt about that.
“We'll have a plan in place to try and nullify their threats but also to take the game to them in an attacking sense."
