ECHOSPORT talks to the Y Front fanzine ahead of Southend United's match with York City.

York are currently 18th in the table. What have you made of the season so far?

"With only seven wins so far this season we find ourselves in a relegation battle much the same as last campaign.

"After the late summer takeover by the new owners and hurried recruitment most fans expectations was for a mid table finish.

"This has changed to just staying in the division."

From the outside looking in, many of us expecting York to be pushing for promotion this season. Why has that not happened?

"There are lots of reasons why we have failed to live up to some people expectations.

"The club was in such a mess both on and off the field that the new owners had too much to try and implement and put right just to get us to a level of a blank page to start again.

"Some of the things were absolute basics that our club had not been doing right for years.

"A rushed recruitment process over the back end of the summer saw many players come and yet a fair few were young and inexperienced at this level.

"We were told that the players were working to a Premier League pre-season fitness plan and yet it was clear after a few games that this hadn’t worked with players seemingly shattered after 60 minutes and it also led to injuries with 13 players out at one point.

"All of the above was done with good intentions but it just didn’t work."

Have there been signs of progress under Neal Ardley?

"Whilst we haven’t been able to put a run of wins together to get to a more comfortable mid-table position our manager Neil Ardley has certainly in the last couple of months had made us much harder to beat.

"He has recruited more backroom staff to assist with moving the club forward especially in the recruitment and sports science departments.

"He seems to have brought in higher standards that the players need to abide by and has long term plans to take this club back to the Football League."

What are the hopes for the rest of the season now?

"The only thing this season York fans want to see is to stay up because relegation again to National League North would be an absolute disaster for the club, new owners and fans.

"I don’t think many fans can face going to Curzon Ashton again."

Who have been the stand out performers this season and who is your dangerman?

"Ryan Fallowfield a York born defender has probably been our most consistent performer this season.

"Our record signing Dipo Akinyemi started off like a house on fire before being sidelined through injury.

"He is just making his way back and is scoring again but hasn’t recaptured his early season form that made you think he could score every time he went forward.

"Ex Shrimper Alex Woodyard has been in fine form these past couple of months after a stop start to his York career through injury."

What's the team news?

"Dan Barry made the bench last week after being out for most of the season with an injury.

"We have been crying out for a creative midfielder so many York fans will be hoping he makes the starting line up on Saturday.

"We’ve also had no recognised left back for months but we have signed Danny Amos on loan from Grimsby Town this week so I expect he will make his debut at Roots Hall."