SUPER-SUBS Josh Carson and Emile Sinclair received the plaudits as ten-man York City fought back to clinch an unlikely 2-2 home draw against Carlisle.

Trailing to first-half goals from Tom Miller and Troy Archibald-Henville, the Minstermen’s hopes of getting anything from their Sky Bet League Two clash with the Cumbrians looked forlorn following Vadaine Oliver’s 51st-minute red card for an off-the-ball clash.

Two goals in as many minutes, though, secured a share of the spoils with Luke Summerfield first winning and converting a penalty and Sinclair then teeing up fellow replacement Carson for his first goal of the season.

Both players have yet to start a game this term but pleased boss Russ Wilcox said: “I think 99 out of 100 people in the ground thought Carlisle were definitely going to win when we were losing 2-0 and down to ten men. I was even wondering myself but you make changes hoping for a reaction and, for two weeks running now, players have come off the bench and made big impressions.

“It’s not always about your starting eleven, it’s sometimes about the eleven players that finish the game and, when your chance comes, you’ve got to have that mindset that you can make a difference. For the equaliser, it was a great first touch from Emile, who then delivered a ball into the box that Josh was second favourite to get to.

“But he showed great desire and hunger to get right across his marker and that’s his reward for working hard during a difficult period for him.”

Wilcox went on to admit he was unhappy with aspects of his team’s performance in the first period, pointing out: “Looking back at the stats, they entered our box four times in the first half and scored two goals so that’s obviously disappointing.

“Reece Thompson also had a golden opportunity at 0-0 and, if that had gone in, it could have been a different game. But the big positive we can take again is the squad’s character and togetherness at 2-0 down with ten men.

“We also decided to keep two up front instead of going 4-4-1 and maybe settling for losing 2-0.” Having viewed footage of the incident that led to striker Oliver’s dismissal, Wilcox also suggested that the club would not be contesting the decision.

“I’ve had a look at the DVD and it’s inconclusive,” the City boss explained. “You can just see a lot of jostling.

“I will be interested to see the referee’s report because sometimes they see certain things and Vadaine said their player stood on his toe but it’s difficult to see how he reacted. The referee had a good view and believed it was a red card, so it’s probably one we have to accept.”

With his team shipping two goals for a second successive match, Wilcox stressed the need to cut out lapses at the back but he is pleased too that matches involving the Minstermen have become more entertaining spectacles this season.

“We’re three games unbeaten and we’ve not done that in a while,” he reasoned. “We’ve also got seven goals in three games.

“We’ve just got to tighten up defensively but we are playing a bit more expansively than last season and I’d sooner draw 2-2 than 0-0 because the last two games have provided great entertainment. The second goal was also offside because their player was standing in front of Scott Flinders but that should not camouflage our defensive errors. They weren’t the linesman’s fault.”

Wilcox fielded a 4-3-3 formation from the start to try and apply pressure on Carlisle’s three centre backs with the visitors lining up 3-5-2.

That meant debutant, on-loan Oldham striker Rhys Turner and Thompson flanked Oliver in attack and, on that switch, Wilcox said: “We were playing in straight lines a bit and the two wide men weren’t really close enough to the central striker.

“Carlisle also coped with us well and, whatever system you play, you need to keep possession better than we did at times in the first half.”