1 The reactions of visiting players and management at the final whistle was telling

When referee Carl Boyeson brought proceedings to a close at the Crown Ground and relegation to the Football League was confirmed, a couple of players put their hands on their heads and looked glum, but not one sunk to his knees in an inconsolable heap or shed tears as you might expect in such sorry circumstances. In the past, City fans have been used to the likes of Dave McGurk contemplating locking himself in a darkened room all summer after missing out on promotion to the Football League or a moist-eye Dan Parslow letting out his emotions following defeat at Wembley.

Similarly, in 2004, then manager Chris Brass took to the microphone and said sorry to City fans when the club were last relegated. But, at Accrington, an apology did not form part of Jackie McNamara’s post-mortem.

The apparent apathy with which the club’s fate has been accepted this season has been galling, especially given the fight shown to get the club into the League and preserve that status in past campaigns. McNamara has bemoaned the lack of passion, but it is his job to instil such qualities and six of the starting XI at Accrington were brought to the club by the former Dundee United chief.

City’s team have lacked motivation during this dogfight and that is a failure on both the players’ and manager’s part.

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2 Accrington Stanley provide a blueprint for lower-league success that others should follow

As the self-styled “club that wouldn’t die”, Stanley’s footballing mentality has always complemented that proud motto. But, aside from the team spirit at the Crown Ground, lessons can be learned from the Lancashire minnows’ approach to player recruitment.

Somebody at the club clearly does their homework with the three most impressive home players on show at the weekend – former Harrogate Railway striker Josh Windass, ex-Boreham Wood winger Piero Mingoia and one-time FC United of Manchester defender Tom Davies – all boasting non-League pedigrees. Amid all the talk of ushering in a revolution at Bootham Crescent, there has been no mention of a chief scout being employed and that is deeply worrying.

When former City full-back Chris Evans was plying his trade in the Premier League at Bolton as assistant manager to Gary Megson, he compiled up-to-date dossiers on every player from the Premier League to Conference level, not to mention broadening that net across Europe and the wider world. City obviously do not possess the same resources but, as Accrington have proven, the rewards are there if you can get out and watch as many games as possible.

You certainly can’t succeed by playing eenie-meenie-miney-mo every summer when the released list is made public or an agent approaches you with his latest compilation of out-of-work clients and their over-exaggerated CVs. Nor, as has been suggested, is sitting players down and discussing their ambitions a reliable policy for transfer-market success.

The much-maligned Vadaine Oliver, for example, started this season stating that he wanted to play in the Championship. Hopefully, Jackie McNamara, or somebody he trusts, has been running the rule over potential summer targets ever since his arrival in November.

If not, the repercussions for a club looking to bounce back into the Football League at the first time could be frightening.

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3 Playing Dave Winfield up front for the whole second half was one final act of desperation

The vice-captain is one of a handful of City players who will not be vilified for his efforts this season. He must have been as surprised as anybody, though, to get a 45-minute run out up front after being named on the bench following his return from a one-match suspension.

Able to compete aerially, he nevertheless looked like exactly what he was – a no-nonsense centre back playing in attack. It’s a tactic worth employing in the final ten minutes when chasing a result maybe, but not for an entire half of football.

In a campaign not short on surreal moments, it matched the Accrington home match when four under-21 rookies were given their Football League debuts, Jonathan Greening being brought out of retirement and washed-up former Scotland international Derek Riordan’s arrival at the club.

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4 Josh Carson is not a left back

Having performed well out of position against a lethargic Portsmouth team, winger Carson was given the runaround by Mingoia at Accrington and never looked comfortable. Keeping faith with a winning side was understandable but, in hindsight, Winfield should have been restored to the centre of the defence and Kyle Cameron moved to left back.

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5 Scot Bennett would be a great acquisition if he can be persuaded to drop down to the National League

During a season in which on-pitch intelligence has been in short supply, the on-loan Notts County utility man has proven an expert reader of the game whether used at centre back or in a midfield anchor role. Given the defence’s lack of protection at Accrington, without his professionalism and organisation skills, the visitors could have been on the receiving end of a much-heavier margin of defeat.