Michael Ingham was York City’s biggest second-half goal threat as Gary Mills’ Bootham Crescent reign began with a shot-shy 1-1 draw against Bath.

A long punt by the former Northern Ireland international ’keeper that narrowly cleared Ryan Robinson’s crossbar represented the Minstermen’s only goal attempt during a sorry second period.

Ingham was also called upon to make an excellent reflex save from the Romans’ midfielder Marley Watkins late on to preserve a point for City against the Somerset part-timers.

The performance will have proved enlightening for ex-Tamworth manager Mills as he strives to improve fortunes at last season’s Blue Square Premier play-off finalists and highest on his list of priorities must be addressing the team’s lack of potency.

Following Saturday’s match, Mills’ inherited side have netted just once in open play during their last five fixtures.

Seven games have also passed since a forward last found the net other than from the penalty spot, with Michael Gash, recalled to the starting line-up on Saturday, now boasting just two goals from 41 appearances.

Gash and striking partner Michael Rankine, as when paired together in the past, struggled to summon up a penetrative run between them against Bath and, such was the lack of movement ahead of him, that City’s creative spark Alex Lawless was left with little option but to fruitlessly try to slalom his way past several opponents on more than one occasion.

Soon after Gash’s withdrawal, Mills reverted to his favoured 4-3-3 formation in an attempt to get a foothold back into the game following long spells of Bath domination.

But his new charges failed to come to terms with the switch and Rankine often cut a lonely figure in attack with Danny Racchi and Mark Beesley only offering distant support from the flanks.

At least at the other end of the pitch, Mills’ decision to reunite Daniel Parslow with David McGurk in the centre of defence brought some reassurance to last weekend’s beleaguered back line.

In the first half, the visitors were limited to just one sight of Ingham’s goal with Lee Phillips heading way off target from a Sido Jombati cross.

City, meanwhile, had forced an save from Robinson after just 41 seconds when midfielder Jonathan Smith saw his edge-of-the-box effort beaten out.

Robinson also gathered a low 25-yard drive from Racchi on 12 minutes before kicking out an outstretched leg to keep out Rankine’s angled drive following good work by Gash and Peter Till.

From the resulting Racchi corner, City were happy beneficiaries of a dubious decision by referee Richard Clark.

The Morpeth official pointed to the spot when McGurk’s firmly struck shot hit the hand of Gethin Jones, who was stood no more than three yards away from the City centre-back.

Clark deemed Jones’ block deliberate, however, leading to long protests from the visitors.

Six-goal top scorer Rankine maintained his 100 per cent record from the spot for City though, holding his nerve on 30 minutes to find Robinson’s bottom left-hand corner after the Romans’ ’keeper had dived in the opposite direction.

Despite going on to win every previous match they have taken the lead in this season, City never looked at ease from that moment on.

Bath, led by central-midfield duo Marc Canham and Alex Russell, camped in their hosts’ half for the majority of the second half with Ingham’s giant clearance, that bounced inches over, providing the only real respite.

An inevitable equaliser arrived on 63 minutes when McGurk’s header from a Wakins cross fell to the feet of Russell and he fired firmly inside Ingham’s right-hand post from 12 yards.

The ex-Torquay midfielder then went close again with a deft chip before Ingham pulled off an instinctive point-blank save to keep out Watkins’ six-yard effort after Darren Edwards had met Joe Edwards’ right-wing cross to the far post.

Bath continued to look the likeliest winners and veteran midfielder Scott Murray shot just past Ingham’s left-hand post after cutting in from the flank on 89 minutes.

The Minstermen, though, clung on for a point while visiting manager Adie Britton was sent off in stoppage time after charging on to the pitch to complain about a late Jamal Fyfield tackle.

Mills’ next challenge is to somehow rebuild the team spirit and sense of purpose that guided the club to within 90 minutes of regaining their place in the Football League just five months ago.

A good FA Cup run, starting with this weekend’s fourth qualifying round tie at Kidderminster, might just provide the necessary fillip.

Match facts

York City 1, Rankine 30 (pen)

Bath City 1, Russell 63

Player rating:
Key: 10 – Faultless; 9 – Outstanding; 8 – Excellent; 7 – Good; 6 – Average; 5 – Below par; 4 – Poor; 3 – Dud; 2 – Hopeless; 1 – Retire

Michael Ingham 7
Duane Courtney 6
David McGurk 7
Daniel Parslow 7
James Meredith 7
Peter Till 6
Jonathan Smith 6
Alex Lawless 6
Danny Racchi 6
Michael Rankine 6
Michael Gash 5

Substitutions: Mark Beesley 5 (for Gash, 64), Neil Barrett (for Till, 74), Jamal Fyfield (for Smith, 86). Subs not used: Sangare, Constantine.

City’s star man: Parslow – never put a foot wrong on his return to the centre of defence.

Bath: Ryan Robinson, Sekani Simpson (Joe Edwards, 55), Jim Rollo, Gethin Jones, Sido Jombati, Marc Canham, Adam Connolly, Marley Watkins, Alex Russell, Kaid Mohammed (Scott Murray, 63), Lee Phillips (Darren Edwards, 72). Subs not used: Adie Harris, Hector Mackie.

Booked: Russell 54, Watkins 74, Meredith 75, Lawless 79, Rankine 90.

Referee: Richard Clark (Morpeth). Rating: poor. Penalised good challenges and hard to argue a case for how the handball that gifted City a penalty was intentional.

Attendance: 2,331 (87 from Bath).

Mistake of the match: Bath fans will understandably point to Clark’s harsh spot kick decision.

Save of the match: Ingham’s point-blank stop from Watkins.

Head to head

Michael Ingham v Ryan Robinson

Ex-Morecambe ’keeper Robinson was kept fairly busy for the first 30 minutes, but was a virtual spectator for the rest of the game. He did not look too confident when dealing with Smith’s early strike but improvised well to keep out the Rankine shot that eventually led to City’s penalty, which he appeared to move too early for. Ingham’s handling and judgement was impeccable at the other end and his top-drawer save from Watkins on 87 minutes saved City from defeat.

Shots on target: York 5, Bath 3.

Shots off target: York 3, Bath 3.

Corners: York 4, Bath 6.

Fouls conceded: York 18, Bath 6.

Offsides: York 0, Bath 0.