Wearsider Gavin Cogdon fired up for South Shields' huge FA Cup date with York City

Gavin Cogdon will look to sink York on Saturday. Picture by Peter Talbot.

Shields will take on the Minstermen in arguably the stand-out tie of the third qualifying round at Mariners Park.

Just as they did in the last round against Darlington, the Mariners will need to overcome a two-division gap to beat their National League North opponents, who were in the Football League just two seasons ago.

And Cogdon insists they cannot afford a repeat of their first-half performance in last Saturday’s 4-1 Evo-Stik North win over Clitheroe, when they fell a goal behind early on.

He said: “We know York are in a real high standard of league and it’s going to be difficult for us again.

“We need to prove that we could play in that league and put in good performances against that standard of team, week-in, week-out. We need to show that consistency.

“If we turn up and perform like we did in the first half on Saturday, people will say the Darlington match was just one of those games.

“Hopefully we can give a good account of ourselves and show people what we can do.”

Shields are two wins away from reaching the first round of the competition.

That is a huge goal for striker Cogdon.

He added: “The first round of the FA Cup is something I really want to play in.

“In my head, this is a really big game, because it’s a chance to move another step closer to that and we can do it.

“We’ve just got to prepare right and make sure we start better than we did on Saturday, because they’d be out of sight if we did that.

“We know we’ve got to put in a really good performance to give us a chance against a team that is two leagues higher and full-time.

“We’re up against it, but we’re going into the game feeling confident.”

Saturday’s game at Mariners Park kicks off at 3pm, and tickets are now available. They went on general sale yesterday and are selling well at a cost of £8 for adults, £6 for students and over-65s, and £2 for under-16s.

To buy a ticket, visit Mariners Park or call 0191 454 7800 between 9am and 9pm today or tomorrow.