SCOTT Flinders’ decision to punch a 90th-minute free kick, rather than catch it, cost York City the chance of victory against Boreham Wood, according to manager Jackie McNamara.

The Minstermen chief admitted his side did not deserve maximum points during a 1-1 home draw but, with the hosts having taken the lead just two minutes earlier courtesy of a deflected Simon Heslop effort, McNamara thought Flinders should not have handed Ricky Shakes the opportunity to level the scores at the death.

Shakes volleyed into a vacated net after Flinders could only clear Connor Clifford’s dead-ball delivery as far as the edge of his penalty box.

The equaliser meant the difference between City sitting third in the early National League standings and their current ninth-placed position with McNamara saying: “It was a fair result and we got what we deserved on the balance of play over 90 minutes but, when you’re leading at that stage of a match, you should see it through to the end.

“Neither keeper was really tested much, but I thought Scott could have caught the long ball into the box, instead of punching it. It then fell to their lad who produced a good finish but, when the ball is coming in from that distance, Scott could have taken the pressure off the defence, settled everyone down and helped us see the game out.”

Despite his team remaining unbeaten three games into the new season, McNamara also believes they are still showing signs of nerves.

“We made a lot of mistakes again and were sloppy with our passing and a bit too slow in our play at times,” he reasoned. “I think they’re still playing with a bit of fear in terms of receiving and taking the ball.

“The fight and spirit is there, but we’ve got to be better in possession and do more offensively. We’re not playing anything near what we are capable of and we’ll have a look at what we might change for Gateshead on Tuesday.”

One player whose starting place could come under threat for the International Stadium clash is striker Scott Fenwick, who has been replaced during City’s opening three fixtures and made way for Richard Brodie just 56 minutes into today’s contest during a double substitution that also saw winger Daniel Nti come on for defender Ben Clappison.

McNamara feels Fenwick, like fellow centre-forward Brodie, must get sharper, pointing out: “He needs to be fitter and his movement could be better to turn bad balls into better ones.

“We need him to help the defence when we are under pressure as well, but the service up to him could be a lot better too. We made the changes to have an impact by bringing pace and quality on.”

City will now assess Matt Fry for the trip to Gateshead after the former Braintree defender was ruled out against Boreham Wood due to a tight groin.

Josh Robinson filled in for his full Minstermen debut and delivering his verdict on the ex-Crusaders defender’s display, McNamara said: “He could have been a bit better on the ball, like everyone else, but they put a physical lad on him in the second half and I thought he handled that well. Defensively, I didn’t really see a threat coming from them until the goal.”