SWINDON Town’s FA Cup first round tie at the Energy Check County Ground tomorrow will prove a case of ‘pupil against master’ after York City boss Sam Collins admitted he’s learnt most of his trade from opposite number Phil Brown.

Collins was part of Hull City’s squad during the Tigers’ sensational promotion winning season to the Premier League a decade ago when Brown was in charge at the KCOM Stadium.

Despite – ironically - being on loan at Swindon and Hartlepool United at the time, Collins revealed that learning from 59-year-old Brown has taught him to keep in constant dialogue with his men when the going gets tough.

Collins told York Press: “I learnt a lot from watching Phil Brown coach, he’s a really good coach, and one thing I promise he will be doing now – if they’ve had poor results or good results – is working with them every day to make them improve.

“One thing he always spoke to players about is the mental side of it and this is a mentally tough game for them and they’re expected to win.

“I know Brown’s style, he’s always played that way, and it’s not one of them where you’re thinking we can’t press high because they’ll play through you because they’ve got 11 players who are really technically gifted so we have to drop off try and protect it, play deeper.

"We might want to a little bit because we’ve got a lot of pace breaking from midfield, and the two wide lads have enough legs, so we might set up that way, but it’s not a game where we need to go into it fearing it, we’re going there to have a right go.”

York City will be without captain Simon Heslop, who has been hit by a knee injury which will keep him out for an estimated eight weeks.

Joe Tait will also miss the game through suspension while prolific forward figure Jon Parkin is likely to start the game from the bench as he continues to nurse a knee injury.