5 things we learned from York City's 1-0 League Two loss to Newport County

The Minstermen have persisted with a 4-3-3 formation for the majority of the season with the former Crewe striker at its apex.

Unless Oliver makes greater efforts to lose his markers, however, the current style of play is flawed as the 24-year-old forward does not possess the necessary strength or first touch to hold the ball up when it is played to his feet with a centre back, or two, breathing down his neck.

As a consequence, attacks all too often break down before they have even started in the opposition's half and possession is cheaply surrendered.

Oliver does, however, win more than his fair share of headers when the ball is played up high to him.

With 4-3-3, the way it has been implemented this term, nobody is near enough to Oliver to profit from his aerial dominance though.

The 6ft 2in striker has not got a single assist to his name this season, which suggests his target-man qualities have not been best utilised.

Putting more crosses into the box by employing a 4-4-2 system regularly in the hope that Oliver can add to his six league goals or going route one more and feeding off his flick-ons could be two possible improvements.

2 Wingers Kenny McEvoy and Danny Galbraith must find a similar level of consistency to Michael Coulson

If City are to switch to 4-4-2, they need wingers who are going to be involved in games for 90 minutes. Coulson is proven in that respect.

McEvoy and Galbraith have blown hot and cold so far. It is still early days in terms of their Bootham Crescent careers but, in the current situation, players must hit the ground running.

Both should have been operating further up the pitch from the start against Newport too.

3 Femi Ilesanmi needs to be encouraged to simplify his game

The City left back has his detractors but his pace and power, when he gets up a head of steam down the flank, makes him a difficult man to stop in full flow.

All too often, however, he checks his runs and, when he has time to ponder his next move, that's when problems can arise.

Ilesanmi needs to be encouraged to bomb down the wing as much as possible if the team's wide men are struggling to provide reliable ammunition and, if somebody like Russell Penn covers for his forward charges, the threat of getting hit on the counter attack will also be nullified.

4 Dave Winfield's standards need to be matched by every player if the club are to get out of trouble

The 27-year-old centre back has been a model of professionalism since his return to the side at Bristol Rovers in December.

His presence has addressed defensive problems that threatened to make games a mockery and he did a superb job nursing new youthful recruits Luke Hendrie and Kyle Cameron through their debuts on Saturday.

His aerial ability at set-plays might have bagged him a hat-trick on another day too and the club must look to capitalise on that in future fixtures. Keeping him fit, given the lack of experienced cover, is also crucial.

5 Luke Summerfield's vision and passing ability is fruitless without intelligent movement in front of him

On too many occasions, Summerfield's forward balls were intercepted by a Newport player or led to 50-50 fights for possession that were often lost by City.

If the team are to profit from his quality distribution, as evidenced by the cross that led to Oliver's second-half chance, then he needs willing targets.