"Absolutely fantastic" - Rory Watson effuses at York City form

Watson's second clean sheet in as many games saw York earn a crucial three points, bringing the club out of the Vanarama National League relegation zone with five matches remaining. 

The City shot-stopper heaped praise onto the backline in front of him, and spoke on the feeling of playing for his boyhood club under Adam Hinshelwood.

"Lovely, I thought the lads played really well," Watson enthused.

"In the first-half we probably should have been two or three up, we played that well on the break.

"Then in the second-half we had to dig in and try to preserve what we have, we then caught them on the break with Dips (Dipo Akinyemi) and it's a great result for us. 

"Absolutely fantastic, all four lads in front of me were a credit today.

"It's not an easy place to come to and they have kept five clean sheets in a row, so to do what we have just done today shows what we are about and what we can do when we play well. 

"It feels amazing, obviously I'm from York so I know what it means to the club and to the fans.

"Every time I put on that shirt I want to win, and I think that the fans have seen that over the last two games. I am just really, really pleased.

"They are always good and especially away from home. The numbers they come in are just ridiculous really, and it's really nice that we can give them something to take home."

Watson also spoke on his 'close-knit' relationship with fellow York goalkeeper George Sykes-Kenworthy, whose confidence is low after conceding six goals to Altrincham 12 days ago, and backed the former Bradford City goalkeeper to one day play at a higher level. 

Watson effused: "I feel good, I spoke to the 'keeper coach (Joe Stead) and the manager (Adam Hinshelwood) in the last few weeks and I have been working so hard on my own game for four or five months.

"Obviously I hadn't been getting a game, but I've still been coming in every day and working hard.

"Ultimately, I have got my rewards for the last two games.

"We've still got a long way to go, and there's George as well who, big shoutout to George, has been absolutely tremendous this year.

"He's a great goalkeeper with a massive future, it's just so hard in goalkeeping when your confidence drops. I think that's probably the only difference at the minute. 

"He's good because he saw me when George was playing and I was around him, I really wanted him to succeed and do well which he has done this year.

"He's just been exactly the same as he always has been, really hard working and he's got on with it.

"We're a really tight-knit goalkeeping unit to be fair. 

"George has got a massive career in the game for me, he's got everything to play higher up.

"I've had it many times in my career where my confidence has been really low and it's a difficult position to play in when your confidence is like that."

Watson and the City squad have much-needed confidence after celebrating back-to-back victories in the league for the first time this campaign, with the York goalkeeper prepared for a match against champions Chesterfield on Friday, March 29 (3pm) at the LNER Community Stadium.

"We've won the last two so we are going into it thinking that we can win the game, it's almost like we go into it with no expectations.

"We will go into it giving everything to try and win that game."

Adam Hinshelwood also spoke on Watson's recent form, and how Sykes-Kenworthy had responded to being dropped from the side. 

Hinshelwood told the Press: “I thought he was excellent, he’s a really top guy to have in the dressing room and he keeps spirits high.

"He knows when to switch and go into focus mode when training properly, which I really like.

"We’ve got two excellent goalkeepers in the building and I really see a bright future for both of them, Rory is a local York lad as well and you could see how much it meant to him, so I am glad that he kept a clean sheet.

“He (Sykes-Kenworthy) was obviously very disappointed still last week, so we’ve had to take time with him and spend time with him, but this week he has trained really well.

"It’s great from my point of view to have two very good goalkeepers pushing each other."