Wycombe Wanderers must not underestimate League Two strugglers York City when they play at Bootham Crescent tomorrow, according to Gareth Ainsworth.

Wycombe’s hosts are currently in 23rd position – 10 points form safety – and are without a win in their last 10 league matches.

The stats may be damning, but Ainsworth bristled at the suggestion his side should be expecting to win against a team they beat 3-0 on the opening day of the season.

“Don’t’ underestimate York because Leyton Orient would have expected to beat them last week and didn’t,” Ainsworth said.

“They are fighting for their lives down there and will think they need to win all their games to survive, so will want to beat us.

“When you go to a team who are fighting hard you have to be up for it because anyone can beat anyone in this league.”

Wycombe go into the match on the back of a 2-1 defeat against AFC Wimbledon which ended a sequence of five games in a row without a loss.

It is a run of form Ainsworth wants his players to rediscover as quickly as possible as they enter the season’s home straight with their fate still firmly in their own hands.

He is however cautious of a York side who he believes will be instilled with renewed confidence from the 1-1 draw picked up against Orient on Saturday.

“We were second best on Saturday and we want to continue down the same vein of form we were on before the Wimbledon defeat,” he said.

“York and even Dagenham & Redbridge are not down yet. They have a lot to play for and it could be that they realise that with six games to play.

“They will have had a boost from drawing against a play-off chasing side when they were not expected to.”

Ainsworth is himself no stranger to a relegation battle having led Wycombe to survival on the final day of the 2013-14 season.

This experience makes him well aware of the never say die attitude York will require to avoid the drop.

Ainsworth said: “The team is very different form the one we took down to Torquay in 2014 and I think maybe only four players are still here.

“We have the experience of surviving though and know it can be done. It is 11 against 11 when you go out there so they have every chance if we don’t keep our work rate and commitment high.”

Marcus Bean will return from suspension to help ease an injury crisis which still leaves Luke O’Nien (knee), Danny Rowe (hamstring) and Sam Wood (knee) in serious doubt of featuring.