YORK City manager Martin Gray has told his players they must learn to handle the pressure of playing at Bootham Crescent.

Home fans expressed their disapproval during this afternoon’s 1-1 draw against Curzon Ashton, with booing heard from certain sections of the ground at half-time and the final whistle, while there were also roars of discontent after the team fell behind to a 58th-minute Joe Guest goal.

Jon Parkin subsequently earned the Minstermen a share of the spoils, before the visitors ended the game with ten men following Cameron McJannet’s 90th-minute red card.

But afterwards Gray admitted that he empathised with City’s frustrated supporters, who expect certain standards from their club at National League North level.

“People have to take responsibility, as I must too, because you’ve got to handle the pressure that comes with a home game here,” the City chief reasoned. “I sympathise with the fans, and the players need to have the same belief they show on the training ground when they’re in front of 2,000 or 3,000 people because we’ve got enough experience in the group to deal with the expectations here at York City.”

Gray also said sorry to the home crowd for his team’s efforts during the opening 45 minutes, confessing: “We were nowhere near good enough in the first half – individually or as a team and I apologise to the fans for that.

“The decision-making on the ball needed to be better and we have to start games with a more positive mindset. We gave the ball away cheaply under pressure and under no pressure and they kept it and moved it around as we would have liked to have done although they didn’t really create anything or hurt us in the first half.

“We then talked about staying in the game and Adam Bartlett made two fantastic second-half saves to make sure we did do but, equally, we had one or two good opportunities to score as well. Simon Heslop had a great chance that just shaved the post and he’s been putting them away every time in training when we’ve been working on getting him in those positions.

“Jake Wright also missed a great opportunity. I was as frustrated as anybody, but we ended up with a good point after a slightly better second-half performance.

“We’ve now got four points from six during the last two games, but we’ve got to start games better and dominate teams.”

Gray went on to praise 36-year-old veteran Parkin, who netted after being handed his first start of the season.

“Jon needs legs around him, but he does what he does well,” the City boss declared. “He’ll always score goals and we’ve got to make sure we give him chances.

“He had two or three and he’s taken one. He’s a fantastic professional, who hasn’t missed one minute of a training session since coming back for pre-season.

“That’s a credit to him considering the miles in his legs and he has a vital part to play this season.”

Gray also refused to be too critical on Wright following his late miss, pointing out: “He needed to score and he knows that, because he was disappointed afterwards and had his head in his hands in the changing room. You could see from his body language that he’d missed a sitter, but he’ll be an important player for us this season.”

Heslop, meanwhile, was back in the first XI after missing the previous two matches with a rib injury and Gray was happy to see him on the pitch again, saying: “I was pleased to get him back, because I feel we need his experience out there and he’s a valuable player for us.”

Winger Wes York limped out of the action following a 65th-minute foul that earned McJannet the first of his two yellow cards, but it is expected he will recover from the knock in time to feature during next weekend’s clash at Brackley.