EMOTIONAL York City boss Gary Mills saluted his players after a thrilling late comeback secured a 2-2 draw at Sutton.

Sean Newton’s bizarre own goal on 86 minutes saw the Minstermen trailing 2-0 following Nicky Bailey’s earlier second-half strike.

But subs Scott Fenwick and Yan Klukowski struck on 89 and 95 minutes respectively, as the visitors moved up to third-bottom in the National League standings with the gap to safety still standing at five points.

Klukowski smacked home the stoppage-time equaliser from a free kick in spectacular fashion, leaving Mills to gasp: “It’s an emotional game.

“It wasn’t a classic, but we kept believing and working hard to get those two goals in the last few minutes. To come back like that and get a point shows that this group of players will give you absolutely everything.

“I asked the subs to go on and change the game and two of them did. I know Fenners can score goals and that’s why I’ve kept him around this small squad and he could have got another.

“Then, Yan’s free kick was an unbelievable strike. I don’t know where he produced that from but, apparently, he said: ‘Watch this’ to the lads before he hit it, so fair play to him.

“A few of our fans left at 2-0 down because it was tough for them to watch, so they’ll be wondering how we pulled it off, but you can never give up in football and a draw was a fair result.”

Mills went on to reason that gaining draws on the road and beating all the remaining visitors to Bootham Crescent could now hold the key to preserving the team’s National League status, with such a return guaranteeing a final haul of 53 points.

“It’s another big point,” he said of the Sutton outcome. “Our next league game is Southport at home a week on Tuesday and, after taking a point at Lincoln, we backed that up by beating Eastleigh in front of our fans, so we’ve got to do the same again. If that’s how it has to be during the remainder of the season, then I believe we will be fine.”

Mills started goal-hero Klukowski on the bench after his recovery from a calf problem, as the City boss kept faith with defensive trio Dan Parslow, Hamza Bencehrif and Newton.

He added that he was pleased with their performances and felt that Sutton’s 3G pitch played a major role in both of the goals his side conceded.

“The back three did well and Sutton never really looked like scoring before the goal,” Mills argued. “Even though it was a great strike by a good player, I also think Kyle would have probably got across to Bailey’s shot on grass and Newts’ own goal certainly wouldn’t have happened.”

With City now focussing their attention on the FA Trophy, as Tuesday night’s home semi-final first leg against Lincoln is followed by Saturday’s return match at Sincil Bank, Mills is instructing his players to temporarily push all thoughts of league survival on the back burner.

The two teams immediately above them and five points ahead in the table - Woking and Torquay – will both play a fixture each before Mills’ men return to league duty – the former travelling to Gateshead on Saturday and Torquay hosting Tranmere on Tuesday in between the Wirral club’s own FA Trophy semi-final clashes against Macclesfield.

“We’ve got to put the league to bed for now, because we’ve got a great opportunity as a football club to get to Wembley,” Mills explained. “I don’t want the league to distract us from doing that ahead of two matches against a good Lincoln team, before we then concentrate on a massive last ten games for the club.”

Mills went on to reveal that he is still pursuing the same Football League midfielder that he tried to sign prior to the Sutton match.

The target is also a former National League title winner, but any additions must be made before the season’s transfer deadline of Thursday, March 23.

“We’ve got a lot of games left with a small squad,” the City boss pointed out. “If I knew we weren’t going to pick up any injuries, then I would stick with this group, but I feel we just need that one more and they’ve got to be the right one.

“I’d love to get the player I want, because he would be unbelievable for us at this level for the remainder of the season.”