YORK City striker Jon Parkin has admitted the team must rectify the manner in which they “crumbled” during the 7-1 friendly defeat to Barnsley.

Parkin helped City take the lead when he crossed for Jake Wright to open the scoring in last night’s Bootham Crescent contest, but the Tykes hit back before half-time with three goals in four minutes and went on to run riot during the second period.

The visitors, who fielded 19 players from last season’s relegated Championship squad, ended up with seven different marksmen on the scoresheet – Tom Bradshaw, Brad Potts, Kieffer Moore, Victor Adeboyejo, George Moncur, Mamdou Thiam and Dylan Mottley-Henry.

Barnsley also hit the frame of Adam Bartlett’s goal four times and Hamza Bencherif cleared a further Thiam chance off the line, with 36-year-old forward Parkin saying: “When we concede a goal, we seem to crumble a little bit.

“We need to rectify that and rectify it quickly because, no matter who you are playing, if you make basic mistakes, you will get punished. Against better players, that happens more times, which was the case against Barnsley.”

Parkin went on to reason that City must now aim to reproduce their form for the first 35 minutes against Barnsley for more sustained spells during the next home friendly with League One Bradford on Saturday.

“Obviously, the result wasn’t what we were looking for and everybody knows you don’t want to get beaten as heavily as that but, for 35 minutes, I thought we were in control of the game,” Parkin argued. “I didn’t think they looked dangerous and we were comfortable up until their first goal.

“We then had a mad few minutes and they got a couple more to put us on the back foot, but it was still only our second pre-season game and it’s all about fitness at this point. We got some minutes under our belt and, hopefully, we’ll get some more on Saturday.

“We’ll just need to look to improve against Bradford and do what we did for 35 minutes against Barnsley for longer periods of the game.”

Wright’s goal did mean that three of City’s strikers have already scored during the Minstermen’s opening two warm-up matches, with Parkin and Macaulay Langstaff both on target during the 2-1 win at Shildon over the weekend.

The side were over-reliant on 25-goal Parkin to deliver the goods last season and, on the potential for greater firepower in the squad during 2018/19, the former Championship campaigner added: “As long as we’re winning games, I’m not too bothered who scores but, hopefully, we can all get goals now and hit the ground running.

“The gaffer has fetched a few strikers in so that might take a bit of pressure off me, but I don’t really feel pressure at my age anyway.”

Parkin went on to suggest that it would be premature to comment on which of City’s three new centre-forwards – Wright, Langstaff or Jordan Burrow – would be most suited to a role as his striking partner.

“I’ve only played a half with Macca and a half with Wrighty, so it’s too early to tell,” the Barnsley-born behemoth reasoned.

Wright will be monitored ahead of Saturday’s game after taking a knock against Barnsley when he joined fellow forwards Burrow (calf) and Langstaff in the treatment room.

First-year pro striker Flynn McNaughton also limped out of the action just moments after being introduced as a second-half substitute, while Kallum Griffiths (ankle) and Tom Allan (knee) will be assessed before the Bradford match too, having sat out last night’s game.

Clovis Kamdjo and midfielder Lee Hulme remain at the club as trialists.