York miss chance to jump into top half
YORK City manager Russ Wilcox was left to rue missed chances as his team once again let a one goal lead slip at Bootham Crescent.
Similar to the 2-1 defeat against Hartlepool in their opening home game, the Minstermen scored first before Mansfield Town came back to claim an impressive 2-1 away win.
And Wilcox was less than impressed with his side’s ability to kill off a game he felt was there for the taking.
“We wasted a great opportunity to get into the top half,” said Wilcox. “A win would have taken us to 12th.
“We've scored the first goal, we've had 11 attempts at their goal, but our quality today was poor. I think you have to say that.
“The final ball, final execution, we created a few opportunities but headed a few over the bar and hit a few wide.
“The positive is that we are creating opportunities from different areas of the pitch, but we have to put it in the net when it comes.”
There were only six minutes on the clock when York City took the lead. Reece Thompson won a free-kick on the left wing after Krystian Pearce could do nothing to stop him cutting inside.
Luke Summerfield looked to find the far corner with a curling inswinger – played with great pace it seemed to evade everyone until Thompson nicked a toe on the ball to take it past Brian Jensen.
After the early flurry of pressure from the home side, Mansfield hit back within seven minutes. Reggie Lambe played a corner to the edge of the box, Adam Champman’s shot was blocked into the path of Matt Green and with an instinctive flash of his fluorescent boots the ball was past Scott Flinders and into the far corner.
Mansfield were taking control of the game and a stunning moment of magic from Green gave them the lead. Played through down the left channel, the forward teased the defence with a couple of step overs before firing an unstoppable shot into the bottom righthand corner.
The second half failed to match the excitement of the first. Mansfield, with Ryan Tafazolli dealing with everything York threw at him, were happy to soak up the home side’s aerial assault.
Mansfield were wellorganised and disciplined at the back which saw them over the line.
“The movement and the speed of our play was very good at times,” beamed delighted Mansfield Town manager Adam Murray. “What we need to do is carry that on for 90 minutes.
“Overall, I thought it showed a complete performance and I think this is a massive three points for us.”