Match report: York City 0, Rotherham United 0

York City forward Ashley Chambers fires a chance into the sidenetting during Saturday’s 0-0 draw with Rotherham United in npower League Two York City forward Ashley Chambers fires a chance into the sidenetting during Saturday’s 0-0 draw with Rotherham United in npower League Two

Benenden Healthcare Society - Proud sponsor of York City FC

YORK City must hit the target against Coventry in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy tomorrow night to avoid equalling an unwanted club record.

The Minstermen were kept off the scoresheet for a third consecutive home match during Saturday’s 0-0 draw with Rotherham, leaving Gary Mills’ team just one game short of the worst run of Bootham Crescent fixtures without a goal during the same season.

That dubious honour is shared by teams managed by Martin Foyle, Neil Thompson and Tom Johnston in 2009, 1999 and 1972 respectively.

The current sequence should be placed in some form of context with Mills’ npower League Two new boys having faced last season’s play-off runners up Cheltenham Town, as well as pre-season title favourites Fleetwood and Rotherham, during a demanding last hat-trick of contests on their own soil.

Nevertheless, it is indisputable that the Minstermen are more effective these days on their travels, where, in contrast, the team have remarkably netted in each of their last 23 matches.

Saturday’s hard-fought 0-0 draw with Rotherham means City have now won only two of the last 11 fixtures in front of their own fans.

In that time, the side have picked up just 12 home points compared to 26 on the road with a lack of firepower contributing to stats that are starting to stack up.

During the last 13 matches they have hosted, City have only managed to score more than once on two occasions.

Ashley Chambers, meanwhile, has contributed a solitary goal from his last 18 games at the Minstermen’s North Yorkshire base.

Other than in the scintillating first half-hour against Fleetwood last Tuesday and the 3-1 victory over Oxford, City have struggled to break down deep-lying defences while employing their 4-3-3 system.

But those two examples are the benchmarks Mills will be using to convince his players that they can once more be successful at home using his favoured formation.

The return of midfielder Scott Kerr and his ability to receive and retain possession – after 26 games and seven months on the sidelines with knee ligament damage – could certainly help in that respect.

Kerr, who will clearly need time to regain full match fitness, received a rousing reception when he was introduced as a 66th- minute substitute on Saturday and immediately set about exhorting those around him to strive for victory, while asking for the ball at every opportunity.

Earlier, the Minstermen had struggled to find the same tempo that threatened to overwhelm Fleetwood in the opening exchanges of their previous outing with too many passes going astray and full-backs Jon Challinor and Jamal Fyfield more conservative in their forward forages.

Rotherham were also laboured, resorting to largely nullified long throws from Icelandic international Kari Arnason as their biggest attacking threat.

Midfield anchorman Dan Parslow’s screening presence in front of the defence also stymied the supply line to Kayode Odejayi, making Ben Pringle’s presence as a link between midfield and the powerful target man so redundant that he was withdrawn at half-time, although his replacement Kieran Agard fared little better.

A pairing of Parslow and Kerr, as disciplined and intelligent sitting midfielders, may indeed bring out the best in Matty Blair if Mills decides to persevere with the latter in his current role behind the front three.

Wing man Chambers produced the first noteworthy goal attempt from either side on Saturday when his 25-yard shot reared up off the slick surface a little unexpectedly and visiting goalkeeper Scott Shearer had to fumble the ball around his left-hand post for a corner.

Moments later, Michael Coulson helped on a long Michael Ingham kick that saw Jason Walker break clear through the right channel but Shearer saved the City striker’s low drive with his legs.

At the other end, Lionel Ainsworth raced into the home penalty box on 42 minutes but shot weakly at Ingham from a promising position.

In the second half, Gareth Evans headed over from eight yards for Rotherham after Ingham failed to get purchase on an attempted punch.

Walker also drove narrowly wide from 20 yards after he received the ball back from Coulson, who he had sent sprinting down the right flank.

Just before the hour mark, though, Ainsworth missed the chance of the match when he left Chris Doig trailing in his wake but, under pressure from Fyfield, prodded wastefully wide of Ingham’s left-hand upright with only the City ’keeper to beat.

For City, Doig and Coulson combined to create a chance for Walker which was smothered by Shearer and, when the ball dropped invitingly in Paddy McLaughlin’s direction, the Northern Ireland under-21 international chose to use his preferred left boot when his right might not have allowed Nicky Hunt to get in the block that took the sting out of his subsequent follow-up shot.

On 70 minutes, Ingham made an amazing save low to his right to keep out an Odejayi header although, unbeknown to both players at the time, the former Colchester forward was flagged for a supposed push.

Ainsworth also drove across the face of goal after riding a series of City challenges, while Kerr switched the ball onto his left foot before firing over from 20 yards and Chambers blasted high into the sidenetting after debutant Danny Kearns’ clever reverse pass had created an 89th-minute chance for the former Leicester forward to win the match.

Few among Bootham Crescent’s biggest crowd of the season, whatever their persuasion, could argue however that a draw was not a fair result.

 

Match facts

York City

Michael Ingham 7
Made another breathtaking save to add to this season’s collection even if it was later discovered the effort would not have stood.

Jon Challinor 7
Showed quality on the ball that has come to be expected of him although crossing might have been better at times.

Chris Smith 7
Didn’t seem as vocal or demonstrative as usual but stuck to his task to help team keep a clean sheet.

Chris Doig 7
Caught out for pace on a couple of occasions but calm in possession and picked out the right passes from the back.

Jamal Fyfield 7
Did not hit the heights he managed against Fleetwood, but defensively sound throughout.

Dan Parslow 8
STAR MAN – a frustrating presence for Pringle and Odejayi before starting to contribute more on the ball as the game went on.

Paddy McLaughlin 6
Not at his best in a creative attacking sense and could have done better with second-half chance.

Matty Blair 6
Struggled to influence the game from his attacking midfield role despite a few promising bursts.

Michael Coulson 6
Linked up with Walker on a couple of occasions, but quiet for other spells.

Jason Walker 8
Came close to scoring twice and protected the ball expertly when it was played up to him.

Ashley Chambers 6
Worked hard, but only threatened sporadically in the final third of the pitch.

Subs: Scott Kerr 7 – clever (for McLaughlin, 66), Danny Kearns 7 – willing (for Coulson, 67). Not used: Musselwhite, Blanchett, Reed, Johnson, Carlisle.

Rotherham United

Scott Shearer, Nicky Hunt, Craig Morgan, Ian Sharps, Bob Harris, Lionel Ainsworth, Michael O’Connor, Kari Arnason, Ben Pringle (Kieran Agard, 46), Gareth Evans, Kayode Odejayi. Subs: Dale Tonge, Jason Taylor, Mark Bradley, David Noble, Andy Warrington, Alec Denton.

Star man: Ian Sharps – his physical battle with Walker saw both give no quarter and ended honours even.

Referee: David Webb (County Durham).

Rating: 8/10 – on top of most things, but Chambers caution was harsh.

Booked: Morgan 49, Arnason 82, Chambers 90, Hunt 90.

Sent off: None.

Attendance: 5,417 (1,596 away fans).

Shots on target: City 3, Millers 3.

Shots off target: City 8, Millers 11.

Corners: City 6, Millers 0.

Fouls conceded: City 11, Millers 14.

Offsides: City 1, Millers 6.

Comments(53)

tomwillo1 says...
8:11pm Sat 6 Oct 12

Wasnt a bad 0-0 at all. 2 good teams battled hard for the points. Just lacked the cutting edge up top, Ingham made a superb save to keep us in it but could have gone either way! Not liking the Chambers haters either, runs himself into the ground for the team, does a lot of work off the ball and is always a threat. Also great to see scotty kerr back on the pitch running the show again! Big player for us!! Bring on Tuesday!!!

johnno65 says...
8:39pm Sat 6 Oct 12

Great to see Scott back and well done Daniel Kearns i think G.M found a real gem if todays introduction is anything to go by.
Reedy and Johnson on Tuesday and maybe Potts, give them a bit of game time?
After todays support and the way we played at times we are gona win more than we lose this season, well done lads.

openallhours says...
9:21pm Sat 6 Oct 12

Oh dear, where do we start with this one. Good weather, big crowd and I was full of optimism for a York win... how wrong was I! Too many bad things to list, but the notable ones were; umpteen negative back-passes to Ingham, no cutting edge, no headers won, sloppy defending, sloppy final ball and the worst of all - swapping 2 midfielders for 2 midfielders (when options like Reed and/or Johnson would surely have been better) when Coulson was our best threat! Ingham was immense and we were very very lucky not to lose today. Gary Midfield needs to wake up and smell the League 2 coffee!

sixtyfourfive says...
9:42pm Sat 6 Oct 12

openallhours wrote:
Oh dear, where do we start with this one. Good weather, big crowd and I was full of optimism for a York win... how wrong was I! Too many bad things to list, but the notable ones were; umpteen negative back-passes to Ingham, no cutting edge, no headers won, sloppy defending, sloppy final ball and the worst of all - swapping 2 midfielders for 2 midfielders (when options like Reed and/or Johnson would surely have been better) when Coulson was our best threat! Ingham was immense and we were very very lucky not to lose today. Gary Midfield needs to wake up and smell the League 2 coffee!
What planet are you on!!? - for goodness sake we have moved up a division and after 11 games are more than holding our own. We were playing the promotion favourites and overall created chances to have won it - as also to be fair did Rotherham - it was a well contested and tense local derby.We have created a good launching base to build on as the season progresses and I just cannot understand such unwarranted negativity.

tomwillo1 says...
9:47pm Sat 6 Oct 12

openallhours wrote:
Oh dear, where do we start with this one. Good weather, big crowd and I was full of optimism for a York win... how wrong was I! Too many bad things to list, but the notable ones were; umpteen negative back-passes to Ingham, no cutting edge, no headers won, sloppy defending, sloppy final ball and the worst of all - swapping 2 midfielders for 2 midfielders (when options like Reed and/or Johnson would surely have been better) when Coulson was our best threat! Ingham was immense and we were very very lucky not to lose today. Gary Midfield needs to wake up and smell the League 2 coffee!
Your obviously one of the glory supporters that didnt watch a single game last season! Shut up and support the team, Mills knows what he is doing!!

duffy says...
9:53pm Sat 6 Oct 12

I'm taking the 5th to avoid the possibility of meltdown.
Did Gary state it was a wonderful home point again ?

openallhours says...
10:01pm Sat 6 Oct 12

People like you really do surprise me... what game were you watching? And didn't you hear all of the comments from other City fans leaving the ground after the game? And by the way, everybody I watched the game with today had harsher comments than me. Maybe if you'd been at the game you would have witnessed it for yourself.

OLD - HEAD says...
10:10pm Sat 6 Oct 12

Fantastic atmosphere in front of that large crowd, but this game lacked any sort of quality. Too many wasted passes and high balls ballooned anywhere. Credit to Rotherham who closed us down and didnt allow us any time to pass the ball around. A draw was about the right result, as neither side did enough to win. Once again Jamie Reed did not get on the pitch, and Jonathan Smith didnt even make the bench today. Very emotional to see Scott Kerr come on in the second half, didnt he get a great reception?. Daniel Kearns looked as though he could be useful, but how on earth is the Manager going to keep all those players happy. Our obvious lack of fire-power up front, needs to be addressed, if we have any aspirations to finish above mid-table.

tomwillo1 says...
10:14pm Sat 6 Oct 12

openallhours wrote:
People like you really do surprise me... what game were you watching? And didn't you hear all of the comments from other City fans leaving the ground after the game? And by the way, everybody I watched the game with today had harsher comments than me. Maybe if you'd been at the game you would have witnessed it for yourself.
Havent missed a game for the last 4 seasons mate so sort yourself out, your obviously with all the clueless grumpy old men in the pop stand!!

duffy says...
10:14pm Sat 6 Oct 12

OLD - HEAD wrote:
Fantastic atmosphere in front of that large crowd, but this game lacked any sort of quality. Too many wasted passes and high balls ballooned anywhere. Credit to Rotherham who closed us down and didnt allow us any time to pass the ball around. A draw was about the right result, as neither side did enough to win. Once again Jamie Reed did not get on the pitch, and Jonathan Smith didnt even make the bench today. Very emotional to see Scott Kerr come on in the second half, didnt he get a great reception?. Daniel Kearns looked as though he could be useful, but how on earth is the Manager going to keep all those players happy. Our obvious lack of fire-power up front, needs to be addressed, if we have any aspirations to finish above mid-table.
As usual Old Head manages to get the balanced view spot on with one line.
" This game lacked any sort of quality"

openallhours says...
10:27pm Sat 6 Oct 12

Crowd - 5500

1500 Rotherham fans thinking 'how on earth did we not win that'

3990 York fans thinking 'we were lucky to get a point and why didn't Gary Midfield make better choices'

10 Happy Clappers who won't have a bad word said about York even though we were poor (at home again)

Lol!

dazthecat says...
10:46pm Sat 6 Oct 12

I'm sorry to anybody who thinks you should only be positive on here. I'm one of the few that would be absolutely chuffed with a mid table finish for us this season. Not because I'm negative, just because I'm realistic and I recognise that it would be a great achievement for us. But........

Today's performance was really poor. We're getting sucked into playing the long ball game at the moment, and its costing us points. Today was one of the most frustrating games I have seen in a long time. Long balls up to walker will never work. I know it must be easier to dominate possession in the conference, but we don't even seem to be trying at moment. We must be the smallest team up front in the division and we're lumping balls up front.

I love millsy don't get me wrong, but I also didn't see the sense in bringing on two half fit midfielders when we needed a goal (I'm not taking anything away from how well they did for their fitness level, I thought they did ok) and leave a dangerous player like Johnson on the bench. Starting Blair in midfield as well? Millsy, it's Blair, chambers and/or coulson, please stop trying to shoehorn all 3 in because you don't know who to drop.

We're not far from where we need to be, but I think we need to be braver than we're being at the moment and try to keep doing what got us into this division in the first place

dazthecat says...
10:58pm Sat 6 Oct 12

I should just add to that, I do recognise that at times today we did get it down and play it, and they proved to be our most dangerous moments, but they were far far too few and far between.

Also, on a positive note, stunning save from ingham (I still can't figure out how he got to that!!) and it's good to see fyfield holding his own the last couple of games, that guy deserves more credit than he gets

GreenshawGrinder says...
12:46am Sun 7 Oct 12

The game that i watched, we have to be happy to take a point.Rotherham had the best chances and should have won it. Chambers was poor again, and i'm not a Chambers hater! Matty Blair is still not a midfielder, a fully fit Scott Kerr is what we need. Still not the end of the world, only four points off a play-off spot.

Head of Bomber Command says...
2:10am Sun 7 Oct 12

Quarter of the season gone and I would say Fortress York needs a little bit of strengthening, in the right places. We are not far off though.

Already looking forward to the Bradford game next week, and above all it is great to be back at the big table.

YorkCityLuke says...
7:49am Sun 7 Oct 12

Not the worst game I've ever seen, we could easily have taken all three points or lost them, and that makes for an entertaining game. First half we looked pretty good, but once again we resorted to clearing our lines with high balls in the second half. We also need to stop putting in high corners, and we need to stop it right now - opposition defenders are going to start putting the ball out for a corner just to get possession back soon. Equally, Ingham needs to stop belting the ball forwards from goal kicks... he actually got a cheer from the Pop Stand when he passed the ball out to Fyfield in the second half. I understand the frustration (if not the outright, end-of-the-world pessimism) from some people over this game, but overall I'd call that one a good point won and move on to the next big game.

THETELLEROFTALES says...
8:28am Sun 7 Oct 12

Not a game that was easy on the eye.
Gary Mills has created a team that plays on the break. This works very well away from home but when teams visit Bootham Crescent it works less well. In truth it works only sporadicaly.
So here we had two teams playing on the break and the result was a predictable stalemate.
For York to improve they clearly need a big striker to offer an alternative to Walker.
Thay also need to be far more clinical in their finishing. The problem is most teams in this division and in Division 1 are all looking for exactly this type of striker because they make the difference between mid-table and a play-off place at the end of the season.
Great to see Kerr back and the new 'Posh' midfielder looks a cracker if his 20 minute cameo is anything to go by.
I'm getting a little concerned about the lack of goals scored at home but credit to the Club for an immense improvement this season. The fans appreciate it even if there is the odd moan now and then.

Keith...lad says...
10:09am Sun 7 Oct 12

Good point against Rotherham in this derby game.Just think the passing games against the better sides is been found out.We can't start from the back because forwards from oppostion r playing closer to our defenders.Why not play Matty Blair closer to J Walker to act as the big man up front 2 give us another option.Think we have the players for this division but will need to be a bit more acute.This will come in time with more experience at this level.But positves clean sheet and a good point.Bring next derby at Bradford next sat

duffy says...
10:15am Sun 7 Oct 12

As has been said by a few that was a poor game and a very valid point was made about the fact we now seem to be trying to play as a counter attacking team at home, we do need a big striker if we are going to carry on like this because its unfair on Walker. I though the defence was a mess at times and a team with a decent striker on the field would have punished us big style yesterday. I thought the new guy looked quite good when he came on and thank god Kerr is back although not fit yet because the midfield needs sorting out. Matty Blair is wasted playing so deep in midfield when he should be up front out wide. A Paddy, Blair, Parslow midfield just does not work. Against one of the title favourites it was not the worst draw in the world but we do have to start winning home games at some stage because one win at home all season is not good enough.

ian923 says...
11:42am Sun 7 Oct 12

Decent 0-0 draw if you were supporting York. If you were supporting Rotherham you would think it was 2 points dropped because of the chances they had which luckily they failed to convert.Walker worked hard to little avail and often there was no one in the centre or at the back post when there needed to be.Fyfield seems to be settling at left back and overall had a decent game.Ingham's attitude is beginning to concern me. On Tuesday night he rollicked some kids behind the goal in the warm up and in the game had a go at Chris Smith.His gesticulations in the match do not look good and although they may display his frustrations he should be told to cut them out because it only gees up the opposition.He also likes his own round of applause from the Longhurst and engineers this himself before kick off. The game is not all about him-it's about the TEAM.He did make one great save though I;m not sure he knew how.All in all I will be happy if we consolidate in League 2 this season (anywhere in top 7 would be a bonus) and I thought as Rotherham shaded the second half because we did not play our passing game we were lucky to get a point.Roll on Tuesday. Come on City and I hope Oli Johnson gets an opportunity.

circuitous route dorset says...
12:54pm Sun 7 Oct 12

I'd settle for our position and crowds twice what we got in BSQ Prem personally. We're doing ok and just need to stick away chances when we get em.

PhilTopping says...
2:03pm Sun 7 Oct 12

An awful, tedious and sterile game between a solid Rotherham side and a defensive but impotent York. Most depressing aspect was Mills' post match interview which defined the phrase "head in the sand".

Just how long do we have to be grateful for the mercy of League football before someone utters the words "but isn't football about entertainment?".

Squad has problems, tactics are naive and excitement is at a minimum.

RooBeck says...
2:20pm Sun 7 Oct 12

A decent point and quite an entertaining goal-less draw, though the game never really got going as an attacking spectacle. Had Jason Walker and Paddy MacLaughlin's second-half opportunities found the back of the net, then, we could have grabbed the win! Michael Ingham's second-half save was a point saver and out of the top drawer. Have to agree with previous posters about high balls forward to Jason, either in open or set-play and we have to come-up with something different that stretches and worries defenders and leads to goal-scoring opportunities. The Coventry City game, provides GM with the opportunity to look again at his attacking options/tactics and personnel, as we don't want to see a fourth, consecutive, home clean-sheet on Tuesday night!!

openallhours says...
2:26pm Sun 7 Oct 12

PhilTopping wrote:
An awful, tedious and sterile game between a solid Rotherham side and a defensive but impotent York. Most depressing aspect was Mills' post match interview which defined the phrase "head in the sand".

Just how long do we have to be grateful for the mercy of League football before someone utters the words "but isn't football about entertainment?".

Squad has problems, tactics are naive and excitement is at a minimum.
Steady on, you'll upset the 'wont't have a bad word said' brigade with comments like that.

Budgie says...
2:28pm Sun 7 Oct 12

Poor fayre, hardly one shot on goal,too many misplaced passes and as for Chambers how he gets selected each week is behond belief.One home win out of six matches,impotent up front give that man Walker who I thought worked his socks of on Saturday, a big striker for him to feed off and we may see the luxury of some goals.

Phil, Leeds says...
4:19pm Sun 7 Oct 12

openallhours wrote:
Oh dear, where do we start with this one. Good weather, big crowd and I was full of optimism for a York win... how wrong was I! Too many bad things to list, but the notable ones were; umpteen negative back-passes to Ingham, no cutting edge, no headers won, sloppy defending, sloppy final ball and the worst of all - swapping 2 midfielders for 2 midfielders (when options like Reed and/or Johnson would surely have been better) when Coulson was our best threat! Ingham was immense and we were very very lucky not to lose today. Gary Midfield needs to wake up and smell the League 2 coffee!
Pretty accurate summing up to be honest. GM set his stall out for a draw, which at home isn't good enough. This formation works away from home but is not right at home. We've now played more than 4 and a half hours at home without scoring and that ain't good enough. Walker was isolated yesterday again and when we did break the support was too slow in moving out. Blair is wasted in midfield but the positives were the return of Kerr and the debut of Kearns. Also worrying that all bar 1 of the starting line up were last season's squad - doesn't say much about the summer signings.

paddymacwakey says...
4:24pm Sun 7 Oct 12

i agree with duffy on here.blair in midfield does not work.starting with one recognised midfielder in paddy is not working.we still need another striker upside walker ,moreso at home.why did we leave out 2 strikers on the bench,we should have at least thrown one of them on to try and get the win we wanted.the same thing happened tuesday against fleetwood.does anyone know if jonothan smith is injured,if not why on earth was he not in the squad.the midfield has got to be mclaughlin,kerr and smith.kearns looked ok when he came on.give him a run out against coventry,along with johnson and reed.we have got to get another hitman from somewhere,and start scoring goals,especially at home.

duffy says...
4:39pm Sun 7 Oct 12

Phil, Leeds wrote:
openallhours wrote:
Oh dear, where do we start with this one. Good weather, big crowd and I was full of optimism for a York win... how wrong was I! Too many bad things to list, but the notable ones were; umpteen negative back-passes to Ingham, no cutting edge, no headers won, sloppy defending, sloppy final ball and the worst of all - swapping 2 midfielders for 2 midfielders (when options like Reed and/or Johnson would surely have been better) when Coulson was our best threat! Ingham was immense and we were very very lucky not to lose today. Gary Midfield needs to wake up and smell the League 2 coffee!
Pretty accurate summing up to be honest. GM set his stall out for a draw, which at home isn't good enough. This formation works away from home but is not right at home. We've now played more than 4 and a half hours at home without scoring and that ain't good enough. Walker was isolated yesterday again and when we did break the support was too slow in moving out. Blair is wasted in midfield but the positives were the return of Kerr and the debut of Kearns. Also worrying that all bar 1 of the starting line up were last season's squad - doesn't say much about the summer signings.
All fair points and yes a change is needed, fans will turn up to see goals and wins and with this negative set up we are doing neither. I would get Smith back into midfield straight away and switch Blair back up front to support Walker. Parslow is hardworking but any forward momentum often breaks down when he gets the ball so lets try the new guy there, we also have a goalscorer in Reed on the bench not getting a sniff of action which is strange when we can't score. We need to get back to playing our way at home and dare I say it stop worrying about the oposition so much, that was the mistake Foyle made and its never been the Mills way.

YorkCityLuke says...
4:59pm Sun 7 Oct 12

Just to put this in perspective, a lot of you moaners were writing us off at this time last season, and look how that turned out. None of us are fortune tellers, so don't act like you know something the 'happy clappers' don't. There were indeed aspects of that game that can and should be improved, but neutrals - including sky sports news and the BBC - have said that it was an entertaining draw with a fair result. So who are you going to believe- the disinterested media, or a handful of vocal fans who were basically talking down the team last season right up to the point we won the trophy and got promoted. It was naive of me to think that our fans would be more patient and forward thinking this time round.

rupertbehr says...
5:26pm Sun 7 Oct 12

OLD - HEAD wrote:
Fantastic atmosphere in front of that large crowd, but this game lacked any sort of quality. Too many wasted passes and high balls ballooned anywhere. Credit to Rotherham who closed us down and didnt allow us any time to pass the ball around. A draw was about the right result, as neither side did enough to win. Once again Jamie Reed did not get on the pitch, and Jonathan Smith didnt even make the bench today. Very emotional to see Scott Kerr come on in the second half, didnt he get a great reception?. Daniel Kearns looked as though he could be useful, but how on earth is the Manager going to keep all those players happy. Our obvious lack of fire-power up front, needs to be addressed, if we have any aspirations to finish above mid-table.
A lot to be agreed with, however I do have to take you to task on the "fantastic atmosphere" you mentioned.
Regards city support, the numbers were largely as expected but the singing, chanting, flag waving etc .....we're, it appeared somewhat lacking for a local (wind up) derby.
Just back from holiday !
have I missing something ?
Police involvement maybe .... Leeds at home ...... who knows, Lets try get it back for Tuesday.

Daley Mayall says...
5:49pm Sun 7 Oct 12

Openallhours just about sums it up for me in his opening post.

We lacked imagination, nous, creativity and a cutting edge in the finall third and too many of our attacking players had an 'off day' - notably Blair and Chambers, who were more worthy of replacing than Coulson and Paddy.

What was most disappointing is the fact Rotherham looked a rather disjointed outfit and far from the powerhouse some of us expected. I believe they were certainly there for the taking and yet we failed to trouble them much, with our support for Walker lacking yet again.

The substitutions baffled many, and having two defensive midfielders in Parslow and Kerr on the pitch didn't help our cause in creating a breakthrough, although it was nice to see Scotty back, and he did okay, similarly Kearns....

...But we should have seen either Reed or Johnson - even both! - in the later stages in hoping to forge that precious winner. I'm hoping for more flair and creativity from an attacking point of view at Bradford, who seem to be leaking a few goals of late.

Most of us would take a point at VP, I suppose, but I really do hope Mr Mills shakes things up a bit and actually 'goes for it'. Draws are dragging us down.

Helliwell's Not a Donkey says...
6:03pm Sun 7 Oct 12

Chambers is starting to annoy me now, everytime he goes on a run he looses possession. Apart from that we are doing OK, we just need to more ruthless in front of goal

duffy says...
6:55pm Sun 7 Oct 12

YorkCityLuke wrote:
Just to put this in perspective, a lot of you moaners were writing us off at this time last season, and look how that turned out. None of us are fortune tellers, so don't act like you know something the 'happy clappers' don't. There were indeed aspects of that game that can and should be improved, but neutrals - including sky sports news and the BBC - have said that it was an entertaining draw with a fair result. So who are you going to believe- the disinterested media, or a handful of vocal fans who were basically talking down the team last season right up to the point we won the trophy and got promoted. It was naive of me to think that our fans would be more patient and forward thinking this time round.
The fans who were there. Sky Sports and the BBC just make it up as they go along. The BBC site is still stating there was not a single shot on target ?

YorkCityLuke says...
8:08pm Sun 7 Oct 12

duffy wrote:
YorkCityLuke wrote:
Just to put this in perspective, a lot of you moaners were writing us off at this time last season, and look how that turned out. None of us are fortune tellers, so don't act like you know something the 'happy clappers' don't. There were indeed aspects of that game that can and should be improved, but neutrals - including sky sports news and the BBC - have said that it was an entertaining draw with a fair result. So who are you going to believe- the disinterested media, or a handful of vocal fans who were basically talking down the team last season right up to the point we won the trophy and got promoted. It was naive of me to think that our fans would be more patient and forward thinking this time round.
The fans who were there. Sky Sports and the BBC just make it up as they go along. The BBC site is still stating there was not a single shot on target ?
I was there, I thought it was a reasonable game with a fair result. Gary Mills, who is arguably our best ever manager and never one to accept sub-par results happily, said it was a good point. I'm inclined to follow the opinions of neutral media sources and our successful, professional manager than a load of people who were basically betting against us last season. Yes, you can all say what you want, but dont try to make put like you know better than Mills. He's the one who got us into this league, he's the one who's competing with teams with much higher budgets, and we should all be getting behind his push for the play-offs instead of resisting every decision he makes.

Phil, Leeds says...
8:20pm Sun 7 Oct 12

YorkCityLuke wrote:
Just to put this in perspective, a lot of you moaners were writing us off at this time last season, and look how that turned out. None of us are fortune tellers, so don't act like you know something the 'happy clappers' don't. There were indeed aspects of that game that can and should be improved, but neutrals - including sky sports news and the BBC - have said that it was an entertaining draw with a fair result. So who are you going to believe- the disinterested media, or a handful of vocal fans who were basically talking down the team last season right up to the point we won the trophy and got promoted. It was naive of me to think that our fans would be more patient and forward thinking this time round.
It's not fair to dismiss what are constructive comments as being from moaners and a handful of fans. I don't give a toss how the media reports; it's what I see with my own eyes that counts.

duffy says...
8:26pm Sun 7 Oct 12

YorkCityLuke wrote:
duffy wrote:
YorkCityLuke wrote:
Just to put this in perspective, a lot of you moaners were writing us off at this time last season, and look how that turned out. None of us are fortune tellers, so don't act like you know something the 'happy clappers' don't. There were indeed aspects of that game that can and should be improved, but neutrals - including sky sports news and the BBC - have said that it was an entertaining draw with a fair result. So who are you going to believe- the disinterested media, or a handful of vocal fans who were basically talking down the team last season right up to the point we won the trophy and got promoted. It was naive of me to think that our fans would be more patient and forward thinking this time round.
The fans who were there. Sky Sports and the BBC just make it up as they go along. The BBC site is still stating there was not a single shot on target ?
I was there, I thought it was a reasonable game with a fair result. Gary Mills, who is arguably our best ever manager and never one to accept sub-par results happily, said it was a good point. I'm inclined to follow the opinions of neutral media sources and our successful, professional manager than a load of people who were basically betting against us last season. Yes, you can all say what you want, but dont try to make put like you know better than Mills. He's the one who got us into this league, he's the one who's competing with teams with much higher budgets, and we should all be getting behind his push for the play-offs instead of resisting every decision he makes.
As always Luke its about opinions and as usual you revert to the fact some of us thought we had blown it and ended up wrong as justification to dismiss any opinion we have this season as rubbish. You ignore the fact that many of the opinions we gave such as the defence making too many mistakes which Mills admitted was correct. We stated that we had not strengthened enough this season and lo and behold Mills is already bringing in new players while many of the summer signings cant even make the bench.On red and blue around 90% of posters thought that was a poor game and felt Mills got the starting line up, substitutions and decision to play as a counter attacking team as wrong. The point I'm making Luke is no one is saying Mills is a poor manager just giving honest opinions on where we think things are going well and not so well which surely is the point of this mini forum of ours.

YorkCityLuke says...
9:16pm Sun 7 Oct 12

I'm not questioning your right to post things Duffy, or saying that you're automatically wrong about things because of incorrect past predictions - but certain contributors (and not necessarily you) just plain ignore things which Mills has done in the past for the sake of negativity; one example being people complaining about our lone-striker formation, which we were playing when we got promoted. I just don't get how short some peoples memories are. Another one would be the old 'Mills is an idiot for playing players out of position' - which obviously means Challinor at right-back, Parslow in midfield, Fyfield at left back etc. were terrible ideas. I'm not trying to argue that Mills is a perfect manager, and I know you're not necessarily calling him a bad manager, but for the amount he has done for the club we should give him the benefit of the doubt when he says we got a good point against Rotherham.

duffy says...
9:34pm Sun 7 Oct 12

YorkCityLuke wrote:
I'm not questioning your right to post things Duffy, or saying that you're automatically wrong about things because of incorrect past predictions - but certain contributors (and not necessarily you) just plain ignore things which Mills has done in the past for the sake of negativity; one example being people complaining about our lone-striker formation, which we were playing when we got promoted. I just don't get how short some peoples memories are. Another one would be the old 'Mills is an idiot for playing players out of position' - which obviously means Challinor at right-back, Parslow in midfield, Fyfield at left back etc. were terrible ideas. I'm not trying to argue that Mills is a perfect manager, and I know you're not necessarily calling him a bad manager, but for the amount he has done for the club we should give him the benefit of the doubt when he says we got a good point against Rotherham.
One thing I will say is Gary has a huge amount of wiggle room in my book just for what he has done for the club. I and many others will be forever in his debt for taking us out of the conference and it would take a hell of a lot for me to ever think he should be sacked. As you say he is not perfect but he does way more right than wrong.

tips says...
9:53pm Sun 7 Oct 12

Garry Mills is doing a great job like us all he will make mistakes but I for one have faith in his ability to get things right.Last season although things did not always go to plan it all came well in the end .We are only at the beginning of October have stepped up a league and are 4 points adrift of a play off position.
Let's get behind Gary and the team.... we are in the Football League ...WE ARE YORK

Theapplesarecoming says...
10:30pm Sun 7 Oct 12

I found myself looking at the floor lots , behind the team totally but found the last 2 games quite unentertaining , simple as that and not just York, both teams

Zetkin says...
11:09pm Sun 7 Oct 12

Below-par performance in my opinion, but began to look better once Kerr and Kearns came on, and midfield stopped wobbling every time a Rotherham player looked at them.

Up to that point I was firmly convinced we'd lose - after it I thought we might pinch it with a bit of luck.

In the end I was pleased with the point, but very conscious that we need to keep working hard to avoid sloppy errors and complacency.

openallhours says...
1:04am Mon 8 Oct 12

Tuesday's starting team if it was up to me;

Ingham

Challinor Carlisle Doig Fyfield

Coulson Kearns Kerr McLaughlin Blair

Walker

Strong and effective in the middle with roving wingers for overlaps and crosses, packed midfield to maximise defensive/attacking play and neat and tidy ball payers to find that killer pass.

YorkCity4Ever says...
8:13am Mon 8 Oct 12

Agree with some of the above, but not all. I don't think there is too much wrong, but Mills does have a tendancy to pick the players first and then just try and squeeze them in to the 11 positions on the pitch. Would like to see some rotation for the Coventry game, would go with:

Ingham

Challinor, Carlisle, McGurk, Blanchett

Kearns, Kerr, McLaughlin

Johnson, Walker, Blair

long distance depressive says...
10:09am Mon 8 Oct 12

Once again Walker worked his socks off with little support from his fellow 'strikers/attacking midfielders' (not that there is much difference!). Need to make a couple of changes on Tuesday. Chambers divides opinion but for me he has not done nearly enough to keep his place and Blair is no way a midfielder. The new lad on loan looks bright and it was good to see Kerr back, those two should start.

redbluelion says...
11:02am Mon 8 Oct 12

I don't expect anything more then a mid-table finish this season..its our first season back in league 2.we have a lot of learning to do..so i'm behind gary mills just give the lads a chance.and back the manager and team.

Fat Harry says...
11:25am Mon 8 Oct 12

A bit disappointed by some aspects of Saturday's performance, and I did think we were a little fortunate to get a point.

That said, we're a quarter of the way through the season, hanging in mid-table, four points off a play-off spot, six points clear of the relegation places.

I'm happy enough with that, and reasonably confident that we're well-placed to push on from here and settle comfortably in the top half of the table.

YoRkIe59 says...
12:47pm Mon 8 Oct 12

can anybody on here tell me has there been any change in the situation regarding being able to get the york games on the radio abroad.

redbluelion says...
1:18pm Mon 8 Oct 12

YoRkIe59 wrote:
can anybody on here tell me has there been any change in the situation regarding being able to get the york games on the radio abroad.
nope....york are a bit slow when it comes to anything like that..don't expect anything this season.all depends on the new website being setup and when..but still i don't think you can listen outside the uk...league rules apply..

KAT1965 says...
1:55pm Mon 8 Oct 12

PhilTopping wrote:
An awful, tedious and sterile game between a solid Rotherham side and a defensive but impotent York. Most depressing aspect was Mills' post match interview which defined the phrase "head in the sand". Just how long do we have to be grateful for the mercy of League football before someone utters the words "but isn't football about entertainment?". Squad has problems, tactics are naive and excitement is at a minimum.
Are you 'Marvin the Paranoid Android' in disguise?

I agree it wasn't the best game in the world and there are things that need changing - particularly Chambers, who dithers too much when he gets the ball, but do you have to be so depressing every game?

speaks99 says...
2:09pm Mon 8 Oct 12

YorkCityLuke wrote:
duffy wrote:
YorkCityLuke wrote:
Just to put this in perspective, a lot of you moaners were writing us off at this time last season, and look how that turned out. None of us are fortune tellers, so don't act like you know something the 'happy clappers' don't. There were indeed aspects of that game that can and should be improved, but neutrals - including sky sports news and the BBC - have said that it was an entertaining draw with a fair result. So who are you going to believe- the disinterested media, or a handful of vocal fans who were basically talking down the team last season right up to the point we won the trophy and got promoted. It was naive of me to think that our fans would be more patient and forward thinking this time round.
The fans who were there. Sky Sports and the BBC just make it up as they go along. The BBC site is still stating there was not a single shot on target ?
I was there, I thought it was a reasonable game with a fair result. Gary Mills, who is arguably our best ever manager and never one to accept sub-par results happily, said it was a good point. I'm inclined to follow the opinions of neutral media sources and our successful, professional manager than a load of people who were basically betting against us last season. Yes, you can all say what you want, but dont try to make put like you know better than Mills. He's the one who got us into this league, he's the one who's competing with teams with much higher budgets, and we should all be getting behind his push for the play-offs instead of resisting every decision he makes.
Ooch! Would have to pull you up on the point of Gary Mills being "arguably our best ever manager". I can think of one or two he's not even close.
Its funny how he manages to split the fans into two camps. Those for who he can do no wrong, and others who think he's been fairly fortunate to get away with a couple of decision.
I sit firmly in the camp of the latter, with some unusual decisions paying off in ways I wouldn't even imagine. There was a point last year when it was looking that things *might* go off the rails, and we were playing 3 defenders in midfield. Clearly this *gamble* paid off, and perhaps that's why he is the manager, and I am a paying fan. However, when he continues to make baffling (to the fans) decisions for which, say, 60% of the fans cant understand, then you are going to get this marmite following. We've brought in Jonathon Smith, who was a regular in a very good Swindon side, not making the bench. Clarke Carlisle, with Premier League experience sitting out of games and Doig and Smith in (who arent having the best of time back there). Blair (arguably his greatest asset is his speed and dribbling) playing in centre mid where these two attributes are negated to some degree. Parslow continues to deputise in midfield (though perhaps merits a bit of leeway considering how well he has been playing there recently). Previously we've been told Potts has no future, then gets a subs run out for a few consecutive games.
Team selection this week for goodness sake, after a poor 70 minutes against Fleetwood, gives the same players a run out.
Like I say, I'm not a manager, would never want to be one, but you can't stand on the terraces week in week out and not scratch your head over some of the decisions...

rupertbehr says...
5:07pm Mon 8 Oct 12

speaks99 wrote:
YorkCityLuke wrote:
duffy wrote:
YorkCityLuke wrote:
Just to put this in perspective, a lot of you moaners were writing us off at this time last season, and look how that turned out. None of us are fortune tellers, so don't act like you know something the 'happy clappers' don't. There were indeed aspects of that game that can and should be improved, but neutrals - including sky sports news and the BBC - have said that it was an entertaining draw with a fair result. So who are you going to believe- the disinterested media, or a handful of vocal fans who were basically talking down the team last season right up to the point we won the trophy and got promoted. It was naive of me to think that our fans would be more patient and forward thinking this time round.
The fans who were there. Sky Sports and the BBC just make it up as they go along. The BBC site is still stating there was not a single shot on target ?
I was there, I thought it was a reasonable game with a fair result. Gary Mills, who is arguably our best ever manager and never one to accept sub-par results happily, said it was a good point. I'm inclined to follow the opinions of neutral media sources and our successful, professional manager than a load of people who were basically betting against us last season. Yes, you can all say what you want, but dont try to make put like you know better than Mills. He's the one who got us into this league, he's the one who's competing with teams with much higher budgets, and we should all be getting behind his push for the play-offs instead of resisting every decision he makes.
Ooch! Would have to pull you up on the point of Gary Mills being "arguably our best ever manager". I can think of one or two he's not even close.
Its funny how he manages to split the fans into two camps. Those for who he can do no wrong, and others who think he's been fairly fortunate to get away with a couple of decision.
I sit firmly in the camp of the latter, with some unusual decisions paying off in ways I wouldn't even imagine. There was a point last year when it was looking that things *might* go off the rails, and we were playing 3 defenders in midfield. Clearly this *gamble* paid off, and perhaps that's why he is the manager, and I am a paying fan. However, when he continues to make baffling (to the fans) decisions for which, say, 60% of the fans cant understand, then you are going to get this marmite following. We've brought in Jonathon Smith, who was a regular in a very good Swindon side, not making the bench. Clarke Carlisle, with Premier League experience sitting out of games and Doig and Smith in (who arent having the best of time back there). Blair (arguably his greatest asset is his speed and dribbling) playing in centre mid where these two attributes are negated to some degree. Parslow continues to deputise in midfield (though perhaps merits a bit of leeway considering how well he has been playing there recently). Previously we've been told Potts has no future, then gets a subs run out for a few consecutive games.
Team selection this week for goodness sake, after a poor 70 minutes against Fleetwood, gives the same players a run out.
Like I say, I'm not a manager, would never want to be one, but you can't stand on the terraces week in week out and not scratch your head over some of the decisions...
Millsy's good, even great,( I'm a massive fan) and has achieved some amazing success with city, and will no doubt get better as time goes on (hopefully with city)
But the best ever !............
Be Serious !!!!

YorkCityLuke says...
9:33pm Mon 8 Oct 12

Mills won us a major trophy (at least for a club of our size), and got us promoted out of a notoriously tough division. He did it with a fairly limited buget. To be fair, I don't remember every other manager we've had, but how many can make that kind of claim?

speaks99 says...
3:03pm Tue 9 Oct 12

YorkCityLuke wrote:
Mills won us a major trophy (at least for a club of our size), and got us promoted out of a notoriously tough division. He did it with a fairly limited buget. To be fair, I don't remember every other manager we've had, but how many can make that kind of claim?
How "limited" that budget was is open to interpretation.

Martin Foyle was just two games away from being "arguably Yorks greatest manager" if those are the criteria...

Yes he is one of the best managers we've had, for the acheivement of getting us out of that hell hole alone, but best? Nah.

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