APOLOGETIC York City manager Martin Gray admitted the club’s sorry end to the season had been a “disaster” following a final-day 2-0 defeat at Brackley.

The result meant the Minstermen concluded their campaign by taking just one point from a possible 18, as they dropped out of play-off contention and finished 11th in National League North.

Midfielder James Armson bagged a second-half brace to secure maximum points for a Brackley side who could finish no higher or lower than third going into the afternoon’s fixture, meaning home advantage had already been secured for the play-off, semi-finals.

An unlikely string of half-time results, meanwhile, suggested a victory could still ensure City grabbed the division’s final play-off spot.

But the visitors could not capitalise on that potential lifeline and eventual wins for Bradford Park Avenue and Spennymoor ultimately rendered the result at St James Park irrelevant anyway.

Reflecting on his team’s April capitulation and the path to improved future fortunes, Gray said: “I have to apologise to the fans.

“We’ve not achieved and I have to take the blame for that and make sure I put it right and turn things around. Our supporters work hard so they can pay good money to travel everywhere with us and the end of the season has been a disaster, so we have got to give them something back.

“Hopefully, there will be one or two signings now by Friday and, as I’ve asked before, people can judge me then when they’ve seen what success is. This will be a busy time now, because recruitment is key.

“It’s not been good enough up to now and you have to hold your hand up for that. We need to get more right than wrong, because mistakes have been made that can’t be repeated going forward.

“We need players who can handle the pressure and expectations of a York club and crowd that so want success. They have to be able to play with belief and discipline and not go hiding if the crowd gets frustrated because they’ve had it tough for such a long period of time.”

With play-off qualification still looking possible at the break, Gray decided to throw on 25-goal leading marksman Jon Parkin after Armson had opened the scoring on 52 minutes.

Parkin, who had missed the previous seven games following knee surgery, was hailed off the bench in a bid to boost a toothless team’s firepower and responded by heading the ball in just eight minutes later.

But the effort was controversially ruled out for an undetectable foul and Gray felt that decision proved pivotal, adding: “We knew the results that were coming through and, at one point, thought it could be our day.

“I felt the first-half performance was good and Sean Newton should have scored to see us go in 1-0 up. We then had the advantage of the slope in the second half, but we had to bring Jon Parkin on to give us a goal threat and the game’s turning point was his disallowed header.

“It was just Jon doing what he does and using his strength to get himself in the right position and, at 1-1, I believe we would have had the momentum to go on and win the game, but I thought the referee was poor for both teams.”

On the need to hail Parkin off the bench as the club’s only potential saviour, Gray reasoned: “He had trained one day in five weeks, but we just had to throw him out there, because he scores goals.

“He’s been our only goal threat at the club since I’ve been here and we’ve relied too heavily on him. That’s been difficult because we’ve had to play a formation that was built around Jon Parkin and, next season, we will need more attacking options to give him some breathing space.

“Salford’s top scorer got 18 goals, but they shared them about and we have to do that.”

Gray also expressed his irritation at the goals conceded by his side, “For their first goal, their centre half wins the ball too easily, they then pick up the pieces and our player doesn’t go with their runner from midfield,” he lamented. “For the second, their player is pinned up against our centre half and gets past him and we’ve got to improve in all areas of the pitch.”

Gray will now begin a summer clearout, with attacker Aidan Connolly, who was left out of the squad at Brackley, expected to be one of the first out of the door.

Asked if Connolly’s absence was due to injury, Gray simply stated: “He wasn’t in the team.”