WINFIELD’S WINNER HAS WILCOX IN WONDERLAND
Victory lifts York closer to safety
BOSS Russ Wilcox says York City cannot afford to think the job is done after they took a significant step towards safety with a narrow home win over rock-bottom Cheltenham.
Centre-half Dave Winfield’s second-half goal separated the sides on a tense afternoon at Bootham Cresent, leaving the Robins three points adrift at the bottom.
“I am delighted,” said Wilcox, whose side are now five points clear of the drop zone.“We had a few nervous moments towards the end, as we do atYork City, but over the 90 minutes we deserved the win.
“The lads were really brave on the ball and moved it around the pitch well to create opportunities. In fact, it was a massive team effort from everybody at the club, including the fans.
“They knew how important this game was. I didn’t want to build it up too much beforehand but the reward for both teams if they won was there for everybody to see.
“It was a great header from Dave Winfield to win it for us and our third goal in two matches from a corner, which is great because we know how many games are won and lost at this level from set-plays.
“The delivery from Luke Summerfield was spot on and Dave has been a colossus since coming into the team for the last three games when we have taken seven points from a possible
nine.We must keep our foot on the gas now though.
“Bristol Rovers probably thought they were safe last season, and they went down.”
The all-important goal arrived in the 73rd minute when Winfield lost his marker and powered in a header from close range from Summerfield’s pinpoint corner.
The first half was an largely uneventful affair, with the second period far more lively and Michael Coulson’s free-kick hit the outside of the right post in the 50th minute with Trevor Carson at full stretch.
Derby loan youngster Shaquille McDonald fired over for Cheltenham after Michael Ingham failed to deal with a corner from Matt Richards in the 64th minute.
But York then seized control and half-time substitute Stephane Zubar had the ball in the net in the 69th minute only to see it chalked out for offside.
Winfield’s bullet put York in front and Cheltenham did finish strongly, but they could not muster a leveller.
Carson saved low from Shaq Coulthirst to deny York a second before Cheltenham substitute Mathieu Manset headed over from Richards’ free-kick and Danny Haynes fired into the side-netting late on.
Gary Johnson remained adamant that Cheltenham can still claw their way out of trouble, despite his reign starting with defeat.
“But for a 20-minute spell in the second half, the effort was there,” Johnson said.
“The lads are gutted in there. I’ve tried to pick them up and I don’t want anyone thinking we are out of it. Of course we aren’t.
“We have six games left yet and I thought the effort was there.We need more quality to win games, that last ball towards the goal. Hopefully that will come.
“They were all trying to win the game. We need to get that winning environment, but the lads did compete.
“It’s disappointing for the fans, but hopefully they still have hope because we were one goal away from thinking it was a pretty decent performance.
“We did well enough for me to see something for the next six games.
“There has to be more quality and clever play, with people bending it in the top corner and centre forwards diving in for a header.
“Their big threat comes from setplays and we did well for most of them, but then we switched off and the ball was on the button.”