NIGEL WORTHINGTON said the only thing he would change from York City's 2-1 loss to Mansfield Town was the result.

The Minstermen manager was disappointed to lose a fourth successive game – a result that dropped City into the bottom two in Sky Bet League Two – but added he “couldn’t fault the players for their effort and commitment”.

Ollie Palmer’s second-half deflected goal gave the Stags the spoils, after Ryan Brobbel had put City ahead in the first minute, but – following on from last weekend's desperately disappointing defeat against AFC Wimbledon – Worthington said he had got the reaction he was looking for from his players.

“For a lot of the game some of the quality was very good so we have just got to keep working hard in training, keep producing performances like that and hope we can turn the corner,” he said.

“We are disappointed to lose the game but I could live with that (performance). I couldn’t live with last week. It’s a marker of where we have to be.

“The overall effort, the shape of the team, individuals within the team, I was very pleased with.

“Young Brobbel did extremely well for a large part of the game, did exactly what I am looking for – to go and get at defenders. I thought (Elliott) Whitehouse had a very good debut.

“He was solid and wanted to take responsibility and the two centre-halves, I know they are experienced but they have been out, they came back in and they worked well together.

“There are loads of plusses. There is just that little bit that we need to fine-tune to find the win. In this game, you have got to keep plugging away.

“I have been in the game long enough to know there are turns and twists as you go along. You have got to stick with and keep doing what you believe in and make sure the players give us true performances like they did on Saturday.”

Worthington added he had not seen the entirety of the incident that saw Richard Cresswell, who been on the pitch less than five minutes, and Martin Riley both red-carded with ten minutes remaining following a brawl in the penalty area but felt referee Jeremy Simpson’s decision to dismiss the pair had been “harsh”.

“I couldn’t see anything in it to be honest,” he explained.

“I didn’t see the whole episode but, if anything, I think yellows would have been sensible.

“The downside is we have lost Richard for three games but the other side is we have got (Ryan) Bowman back in contention, which is good.”

Worthington continued: “I think we deserved something from the game, but we’ve got nothing. We have got to look to next week and go and produce the effort and commitment that was there on Saturday and go and play like we can.

“We are back in work first thing today and we will bounce in there and get on with the job. Wycombe is next and the focus is on that and it comes from me and the staff. We have got to not feel sorry for ourselves, we have got a job to do. This one is behind us and we look to the next one.”