YORK City boss Gary Mills wants to write off his team's 3-1 home defeat to Gateshead as a “bad day at the office”.

The Minstermen went down to Danny Johnson, Paddy McLaughlin and Wes York goals, despite Vadaine Oliver’s first-half equaliser.

Defeat meant City remain six points adrift of a place outside the relegation zone but Mills, whose team’s last loss was on New Year’s Day, argued: “We can’t let this one match affect us.

“It’s just got to go down as a bad day at the office. It will be analysed, but it can’t dictate our next two months.

“I understand everyone’s frustration, but I don’t want it to fester, because that can escalate into more problems. We need back-to-back wins at some stage because, with playing in the Trophy, we could find ourselves further adrift after Saturday, which would make things a bit tougher mentally but, if you’re going to succeed in this game, you have to be mentally strong.”

Delivering his verdict on the Bootham Crescent setback, Mills added: “It was very disappointing.

“We haven’t looked like we would concede three goals in a game for a long time, but we seemed vulnerable from the word go. We looked a bit disorganised at the back and the first goal should never have gone in from where their player hit it.

“We responded well and got the goal back, but the penalty gave them a lift and seemed to make things mentally tougher for us. We couldn’t bounce back from it and didn’t look like we could score in the second half before conceding a third.”

Mills also had few complaints about the penalty conceded by Oliver on 44 minutes.

“It looked clumsy,” the City chief admitted. “If it was a defender, they’d have probably stayed on their feet instead of trying to win a ball that wasn’t there.”

Mills went on to suggest that Shaun Rooney’s performance didn’t merit his recall to the first XI, as he was replaced ten minutes into the second period.

“Shaun didn’t have a good game and knows he has to do better,” Mills reasoned.

The City boss will now consider whether the time is right to bolster his ranks.

“I know a few players who are available and the chairman has given me the go ahead, but I need to think about it, because we brought people in on loan before who weren’t right,” he pondered.