IT was hoped last summer that club records would tumble following York City’s relegation into sixth-tier regionalised football, but not of the kind equalled at FC United of Manchester this week.

The 2017/18 side’s sorry run of four successive league defeats without scoring can only be matched once in the club’s 96-year history.

That was back in 1995/96 when a team that had dumped the mighty Manchester United out of the League Cup earlier that campaign went down to Stockport (0-3), Carlisle (0-2), Chesterfield (0-1) and Blackpool (0-2) before securing their League One status following a 3-1 rearranged Thursday morning victory at Brighton.

Just as this term’s squad have dried up in front of goal following an injury to attacking talisman Jon Parkin, that group of players struggled for a cutting edge, having been bereft of the inspirational Paul Barnes since the end of February, following his £350,000 move to Birmingham City, as Gary Bull and Glenn Naylor found it difficult to fill the void.

There are, meanwhile, three other groups of players, who have suffered four goal-less losses on the trot during a season if cup competitions are taken into account.

John Bird’s 1990/91 outfit, spearheaded by Ian Helliwell, kicked off that season with back-to-back old fourth division reverses against Maidstone (0-1) and Hereford (0-2), whilst also losing their two League Cup legs to Wrexham (0-1, 0-2).

In 1980/81, Barry Lyons’ team, with Terry Eccles leading the line, were beaten in a League Cup tie against Bristol Rovers (0-1) before going down to Southend (0-3), Hartlepool (0-1) and Northampton (0-2) early in a season that would see the club finish bottom of the Football League.

The first time a City side had endured such a miserable run came in 1963/64 when, despite boasting the services of all-time record goalscorer Norman Wilkinson, toothless disappointments were racked up against Hartlepool (0-1), League Cup hosts Lincoln (0-2), Brighton (0-3) and Exeter (0-1).

Tom Lockie’s team would go on to finish 90th from 92 clubs in the Football League above Hartlepool and Barrow.

If stats are to be carried over from one campaign to the next, though, the Minstermen’s current run of goal-less defeats against Harrogate (0-2), Nuneaton (0-1), Gainsborough (0-1) and FC United (0-1) is still one short of the five overseen by Charlie Wright.

The former Charlton goalkeeper finished 1977/78 with a hat-trick of consecutive disappointments against division four rivals Torquay (0-3), Reading (0-1) and Northampton (0-3), before beginning the next campaign by losing both League Cup first-round legs to Grimsby (0-2, 0-3) with Kevin Randall and David Loggie in the frontline.

City’s run of four games without a goal, regardless of the final scoreline, is the worst since Jackie McNamara’s National League squad fired blanks in five matches on the spin during the final throes of his managerial reign from September to October 2016.

That unenviable club record stands at seven games during 1972/73, even though Tom Johnston partnered club legends Paul Aimson and Jimmy Seal up front in four of those matches.

Martin Gray’s team are still five games shot, meanwhile, of the club record for consecutive defeats too.

That dubious nine-match honour belongs to the side that was relegated from the Football League in 2016, with McNamara losing his first seven fixtures at the helm following Russ Wilcox’s final game in charge and Richard Cresswell’s one outing as caretaker chief.

TEENAGE winger Vinnie Steels remains tops The Press Player of the Month contest for April with two games left to play.

Steels, 16, picked up three points towards the award as our star man during last weekend’s 1-0 defeat at Gainsborough.

He also received the two bonus points on offer to the player who accumulated the most votes in our Twitter man-of-the-match poll.

The other points in Lincolnshire went to Hamza Bencherif (two) and Aidan Connolly (one) as our second and third-highest rated performers respectively.

Jonny Burn (three points) won The Press man-of-the-match prize during the 1-0 midweek loss at FC United of Manchester, where Simon Heslop (two) and Bencherif (one) were our second and third-highest rated players respectively.

Two-time former Press Player of the Year Dan Parslow was rewarded with the two bonus points.

Latest Press Player of the Year standings: Parkin 31, Connolly 26, Bartlett 18, Bencherif 18, Law 18, Newton 18, Parslow 18, Moke 16, Heslop 13, Almond 12, Burn 11, Ferguson 10, Worsnop 10, Whittle 9, Morgan-Smith 8, Pattison 8, Smith 5, Rankine 3, Rowe 3, Steels 3, Correia 2, Kempster 2, Martin 2.

The April Press Player of the Month standings: Steels 7, Burn 6, Bencherif 5, Law 3, Heslop 2, Kamdjo 2, Newton 2, Parslow 2, Bartlett 1, Connolly 1, Smith 1.

Goals: Parkin 25, Newton 8, Connolly 6, Morgan-Smith 5, Heslop 4, Burn 3, Almond 2, Kempster 2, Moke 2, Own Goal 2, Parslow 2, Rankine 2, Correia 1, Felix 1, Ferguson 1, Gray 1, Law 1, Martin 1, Rowe 1, Smith 1.

Assists: Connolly 9, Almond 8, Newton 8, Heslop 5, Parslow 5, Ferguson 4, Gray 4, Law 4, Morgan-Smith 4, Parkin 4, Martin 3, Moke 3, Whittle 3, Bencherif 1, Correia 1, Felix 1, Kempster 1, Pattison 1, Peacock-Farrell 1, Worsnop 1.

Bad boys: Heslop two red, four yellow; Brown, Rowe both five yellow; Bencherif one red, three yellow; Burn four yellow; Newton three yellow; Ferguson one red, one yellow; Connolly, Wharton, Worsnop all two yellow; Parkin one red; Gray, Law, Moke, Parslow, Smith, Whittle all one yellow.