MANAGER Steve Watson has vowed to put out a strong side when York City travel to ninth-tier Irlam in the FA Cup on Saturday afternoon.

York will be aiming to prevent a giant-killing when they visit Irlam - who finished in the bottom half of the North West Counties League premier division last season - in a game which will be broadcast on the BBC iPlayer and red button (12:30pm kick-off).

The Minstermen sit top of the National League North and face third-placed King’s Lynn next Saturday in what many see as a crucial game.

With that mind, resting key players would be understandable, but Watson insists that he and the club are desperate for progression to the next round of the FA Cup.

“I’m approaching this game the same that I would do any other,” said Watson. “We’ll do a little bit of work on the way that they play.

“But, mainly our focus is on the way that we play, as it has been all season.

“The temptation is to give players that have played a lot of minutes and who are carrying little knocks, to put that right this week.

“But also we don’t want to sacrifice the fact that we desperately want to have a good cup run. This club deserves a good cup run, the fans do. With all that mind, we’ll be putting a strong side out.

“We’re going to give the chances to lads to come in and get some minutes and it gives the chance for la”ds carrying knocks to rest ahead of our next league game.

As long as we approach this game in the right way, which I’m certain we will, I’m confident that we’ll be good enough to get through to the next round.”

Asked about the argument for playing his best side in order to give the best chance of victory, Watson replied: “If you were to ask me what my strongest side was this season, I probably couldn’t tell you because everybody who’s come in has done well for us.

“Everybody’s got their own opinion on what our strongest side is, but that’s just people’s opinions.

“All it boils to when they say that, is what their opinion of the strongest side is. Everybody that goes in to the game on Saturday, I trust them to do a good job for us.”