YORK City manager Martin Foyle praised Richard Brodie’s “guts” after he converted the injury-time penalty that earned a 2-1 home win over Altrincham.

Top scorer Brodie had seen his last spot kick saved at Mansfield in March but made no mistake from 12 yards yesterday, blasting into visiting ’keeper Stuart Coburn’s top-right hand corner after on-loan Chesterfield midfielder Paul Harsley had offered to take the penalty instead.

Brodie’s goal means City will all but secure a play-off spot with a victory over AFC Wimbledon at Bootham Crescent tomorrow night.

Three points from that match would put Foyle’s men beyond the reach of every team outside the top five other than Crawley. But the Surrey side would then have to win all five of their remaining fixtures and hope City lose their last four while also overturning a goal difference that is currently 22 inferior to their fifth-placed rivals.

Speaking about the character of Brodie, who had only ended an 11-game goal drought six days earlier with a brace at bottom-of-the-table Grays, Foyle said: “I thought Brodes was back on song last week and he created a few decent openings for himself again (against Altrincham).

“I told Paul Harsley to speak to him if we got another penalty and that, if he felt confident, to let him have it. People might say he’s nervous but he showed a lot of guts to take that penalty with two points riding on it after having his last one saved.”

Foyle added that, despite the victory, he felt his side were below par against Altrincham and was also disappointed by the manner of Chris Denham’s opening goal on 63 minutes, which was cancelled out by David McGurk’s first of the season.

The City chief said: “It was a soft goal to concede. It came from one long boot and we did not cover properly in the centre-back area.

“We also looked like we were playing at three-quarter pace at times and I was a bit disappointed in certain aspects of our game but three points, at this moment in time, is fantastic.”

Controversial scenes greeted the final whistle at yesterday’s match with Altrincham manager Graham Heathcote reacting aggressively to City safety officer Eric Hope’s attempts to prevent him confronting referee Andrew Madley.

A City fan then jumped on Heathcote with the pushing and shoving continuing as officials from both teams headed down the players’ tunnel.

When asked about the fracas, Foyle joked: “I was first in the changing room and that’s not me pretending to be Arsene Wenger – I just like to get there first to get the best sandwiches.”

But the City boss also added: “I thought we should have had another blatant penalty and Graham probably thinks our equaliser should have been disallowed for a foul on their ’keeper.

“We could have got both decisions, but maybe it’s a bit greedy to expect both in your favour.”

Foyle is now hoping for a big gate for tomorrow evening’s match and is hoping the club’s fans remain supportive.

He said: “Teams come here to stifle us and get the crowd on our backs.

“I know Rushden’s crowd are getting on their backs and I don’t want our fans to go that way.

“We need everybody singing from the same hymn sheet. It will be a massive game tomorrow night and, hopefully, well-supported.”

Michael Rankine could be pressing for a starting place against the Dons after a strong substitute outing yesterday although Foyle stressed: “I want players to have the same impact at the start of games as they do coming off the bench and that’s not meant as a criticism of the players as they are still young lads.”