YORK City manager Gary Mills insisted that at no stage did he or his players settle for a point from the 2-2 home draw with Forest Green.

As the Bootham Crescent contest entered its final throes, City were heading for safety, as they just needed to better Guiseley’s score and, with stoppage time being played at Nethermoor Park, the hosts were trailing 1-0 to a Solihull Moors side, who also had a penalty saved before taking the lead .

Elsewhere, third-bottom Braintree, who needed a win to overhaul the Minstermen, were on their way to a 2-0 defeat at Aldershot.

But Mills – well aware of his old boss the legendary Brian Clough’s theory that it only takes a second to score a goal – stressed that his team never prioritised ensuring they didn’t concede a fatal third goal over seeking a match-winner of their own, prior to Danny Lowe’s decisive stoppage-time equaliser for Guiseley.

He said: “We always knew that there was only an outside chance that a draw would be enough, so that’s why we went for a win from the first whistle and I don’t think that ever changed. At 90 minutes, we knew we were OK with a draw, but I still felt we were trying to get a winner because somebody I once worked with said it only takes a second to score a goal.

“I told the lads at half-time that, as it stood, we just needed a goal and that I would let them know if that changed. It did in the 91st minute.

“Newts (Sean Newton) then maybe had the chance to get us a goal, but it fell to his wrong foot.”

The City boss made one change to the side that had started last weekend’s 1-1 draw at Woking with long-throw specialist Sam Muggleton coming in at the expense of Alex Whittle, who didn’t even make the bench.

Whittle had kicked off more league games this term than any player other than skipper Simon Heslop, but Mills reasoned that Muggleton’s display during the first game he has started for the club merited his choice, adding: “It was a decision I made and I think it worked out to be the right one.

“You can’t not use his long throw in such circumstances. We got the second goal from it and could have had a couple more with a bit more composure in the box.

“I thought he also did OK on the other side of things as well when needed. Sam didn’t let us down and, if I had to make the decision again, I’d do the same.”

Woking’s 1-1 draw at Dagenham and a 2-0 home win for Torquay against North Ferriby, meanwhile, meant that not even maximum points would have seen Mills’ team climb above either of those sides on a fraught final day.