BLUEBIRDS BURST ADDS TO YORK’S AWAY WOE

THE misery goes on for York City – now a run of 28 away games without a victory.

A 57th-minute effort from captain Danny Livesey, closely following by a Matt Fry own goal kept the Minstermen waiting at Holker Street.

And it prompted manager Jackie McNamara to admit afterwards: “I have got to look at myself and my position.”

In contrast, the Bluebirds are whistling along nicely under boss Paul Cox, who added: “I don’t think we’ve played as well as we could do. When you look at our performance against Lincoln last week – the intensity, the way we played with the ball, the style of football we played – we looked a little apprehensive today.

“The conditions in the first half didn’t help, kicking against a really strong wind.

“Secondly, we were up against a young side who looked desperate to get a monkey off their back and get an away win. They worked very hard, caused us problems with their shape.

“We overcame that and I thought we deserved the win with our second-half display.

“It was a tough game but we’ve got the three points and, more importantly, we’ve come through unscathed.”

Indeed, the gusting wind caused all manner of problems in the first half and made for a scrappy affair.

But it was the Minstermenwho should have taken the lead on 25 minutes when a great cross from the right by Aidan Connolly was met by Shaun Rooney. He beat the keeper but not Livesey, who was on the goal-line to head clear. Indeed, Connolly was quite a thorn in Barrow’s side with his smart passing while Clovis Kamdjo grafted in the heart of the York midfield. Barrow, however, picked up the tempo after the break and Jack Higgins got in the way to chest away for a corner a Jordan Williams drive that looked like producing the opening goal. And Barrow’s pressure got its inevitable reward on 57 minutes when Williams swung over a corner from the left and Livesey was there on the near post to send home a glancing header. And eight minutes later the game was decided when the wizard Williams cut in from the left and with his keeper beaten all Fry could do was turn the ball into his own net. York tried to engineer a fighting finish but they got little truck from the home defence and what efforts they did get in were coolly collected by home keeper Joel Dixon. “A scrappy battle” was how McNamara summed it up afterwards, adding: “We had one chance but it was cleared off the line. Then we conceded a goal because of a lack of concentration. “I didn’t think there was that much between the sides but people have to take some responsibility in the final third.”