1 There is nobody to fear at National League level

The 1-0 home defeat to North Ferriby on New Year’s Day was largely regarded as a big body blow because it was built up as a game City should and, therefore, needed to pick three points up from. As manager Gary Mills keeps stressing, though, Saturday’s match, along with those at the likes of Tranmere and Eastleigh, illustrated that the team need not approach any fixture with a sense of foreboding and all games present an opportunity to take maximum points.

Dover are genuine promotion contenders and the division’s leading marksmen, but it was City who offered the greater attacking threat and, while 30-goal top scorer Ricky Miller proved troublesome on a handful of occasions, he needed a second-half penalty to add to his remarkable haul this season. The Ferriby result was, undeniably, a setback, but also proved that no team in the league should be under-estimated either.

Hopefully, given the five previous displays, a lesson has been learned following Saturday’s encouraging riposte and a benchmark set from which standards must not slip below for the remainder of the campaign. When such yardsticks have been laid down sporadically during the past season-and-a-half of struggles, they have not been met with any form of consequent continuity, but all back-slapping for individual successes must now be kept to a minimum until a level of performance is maintained that, all at Bootham Crescent hope, will deliver National League survival at the earliest possible opportunity.

York Press: 2 Aarran Racine’s replacement must be chosen wisely

The on-loan Forest Green defender’s impact during his month-loan spell with the Minstermen is probably best highlighted by the improvement in the team’s goals-against record. Racine has returned to Gloucestershire with City having conceded just four goals in his five appearances, compared to the 11 shipped in the five matches prior to his arrival.

His physical presence, positional sense and experience has made him a worthy adversary for all strikers, including hot-shot Miller and his fellow attackers Moses Emmanuel and Ross Lafayette, who are also into double figures for the season. Aside from one, admittedly costly, lapse against North Ferriby, he scarcely put a foot wrong and Mills must now endeavour to find another player cut from the same cloth to sustain the side’s new-found defensive resilience.

York Press: 3 Allowances can perhaps be made for the naivety of Shaun Rooney’s youth

With his full beard and rugged size, it is perhaps easy to forget that Rooney is still only 20 – the same age as winger Callum Rzonca, for instance, whose contributions rarely come under the same level of scrutiny. A defender’s mistakes generally, of course, carry a greater significance and Rooney was at fault for both Dover goals – getting himself into an awkward position from a free kick and teeing up Jamie Grimes with a poor clearance and then swinging a loose leg at the ball and booting Miller instead to concede a penalty. Rooney’s rashness also earned him a ninth yellow card of the campaign. There were pros, as well as cons though.

His restoration to a right-wing back position, with skipper Simon Heslop moving inside and Lanre Oyebanjo still sidelined, gave City some much-needed thrust from that flank and his positive burst led to the Minstermen’s first equaliser. Making amends for his penalty, Rooney also demonstrated a hitherto, unheralded threat at set-pieces when he headed in a 77th-minute equaliser.

He must now prove he has the necessary concentration levels and make progress with his game intelligence to keep misjudgements to a minimum and complement the raw materials Mills believes mark him out as a player of potential.

York Press: 4 City can call on the services of more than one set-piece specialist

Whereas last season, Luke Summerfield’s dead-ball deliveries could swing from the sublime to the ridiculous with frustrating regularity, Mills additions Simon Lappin and Sean Newton possess an unerring ability to supply reliable service from corners and free kicks. Lappin had sent in flag kicks that were right on the money and defended well by Dover, prior to Parkin eventually profiting from his quality for the opening goal.

City’s second them came courtesy of a deep Newton centre from close to the halfway line that found a prime target for his team-mates to attack close to the penalty spot. It was also a set-play that proved decisive in the Boxing Day triumph at North Ferriby.

The challenge is to now end a run of four matches without as goal in open play, as more chances to put the game to bed – most notably for Newton, Matt Fry and Daniel Nti – went begging in Kent.

York Press: 5 Heads didn’t drop in adversity

There was a time when falling behind in matches signalled almost certain defeat but, for the first time since a 2-2 home draw with Crawley last March, the Minstermen recovered from trailing twice to get some reward from a game. With every point likely to be precious between now and April, that spirit will be needed in every fixture with no scope to wallow in self-pity or surrender any match.