HAVING fired blanks again a day before Halloween, the goalscoring records of York City’s strikers is beginning to make for scary reading.

Disregarding penalties, the Minstermen’s recognised frontmen have only hit the back of the net a frightful six times during the club’s opening 18 fixtures of 2010/1 with Michael Rankine contributing three goals, Leon Constantine two and Michael Gash one.

Rankine and Constantine even endured the ignominy of being replaced during the second half of Saturday’s 2-1 defeat at Forest Green Rovers despite the absence of an alternative forward on the bench with Gash watching on from the stands.

Instead, midfielder Alex Lawless and winger Peter Till were asked to fill forward roles for the last 20 minutes.

Lawless went on to score almost immediately and City looked more dangerous in the final third of the pitch than they had at any other stage of the match but could not quite snatch the point their long spells of territorial dominance merited.

The hosts only managed three shots on Michael Ingham’s goal all afternoon but two went in, including one in the opening stages which is becoming a frustrating custom when City take to the road.

Dave Hockaday’s men went ahead in the simplest of fashions when Mike Fowler swung a fourth-minute free-kick to the far post.

Unchallenged home captain Luke Jones then headed the ball back towards the six-yard box, where fellow centre-back Gavin Caines nipped in front of former Forest Green midfielder Jonathan Smith to sweep the ball past Ingham.

At the other end, City had to wait until the 26th minute for their first goal attempt – a tame header wide from Danny Racchi following Daniel Parslow’s deep cross from the right.

In fact, full-backs Parslow and James Meredith looked City’s brightest attacking outlets during a first half in which Forest Green worked hard to get players behind the ball.

Hockaday paid City the ultimate compliment by changing his normal tactics for the game, opting to go man to man with the visitors in the middle of the park and leaving Reece Styche as his lone striker.

But, after City had capitalised fully on their extra man in midfield seven days earlier against 4-4-2 advocates Kidderminster, Mills will now work on conveying to his new team how to impose a 4-3-3 system on opposition sides when they mirror your formation.

As, for all their possession, City lacked incision until throwing caution to the wind and going for broke during the latter stages.

In the first period, other than Racchi’s header, David McDermott flashed a 25-yard effort wide on 42 minutes and Lawless missed the target from a similar distance before Ingham made his only save of the afternoon to deny Yan Klukowski seconds before the break.

The second half initially followed a similar pattern with Rovers doubling their advantage on 58 minutes after another rare foray into the visitors’ penalty box.

This time, Klukowski was afforded the space to thread through a pass to Styche, who cut inside David McGurk before curling a 12-yard shot beyond Ingham and into his bottom left-hand corner.

The rest of the match was largely played out in the home side’s half.

One of Rankine’s final contributions was a long throw that led to a scrambled Meredith effort being cleared off the line by Craig Armstrong.

Gary Mills, the City boss’ namesake, also booted away a goalbound Lawless strike after Racchi had headed down Daniel Parslow’s cross.

Ex-Rover Lawless did, however, get on the scoresheet on 73 minutes when his six-yard shot hit a post and spun over the line after Ingham had hoofed forward a free-kick that Chris Smith headed on.

Shortly afterwards, Lawless, relishing his forward duties, headed wide having been picked out at the far post by McDermott, who had been switched to the right wing.

Jonathan Smith also called home ’keeper James Bittner into action from 30 yards, substitute Neil Barrett went close with a deflected edge-of-the-box effort and Till’s looping header bounced off the top of the bar.

Centre-back Chris Smith and even ’keeper Ingham were then sent upfield in the closing moments, but McDermott’s 20-yard stoppage-time strike that drifted just wide of goal was the nearest City came to sharing the spoils.

Mills was correct to point out afterwards that the players need time to adapt to his playing methods and, just as it might have been a little premature to get carried away with the team’s performance against Kidderminster, Saturday’s result should not lead to widespread panic.

The club’s concerning league position owes much to a blunt cutting edge, however, that the former Tamworth chief has already identified and wants to address as soon as possible.

Both Rankine and Gash have never been prolific and are more comfortable when used as foils for more natural marksmen.

Constantine, meanwhile, does have a goalscoring pedigree but, with pleasing back-to-back displays a rarity so far during his City career, the 32-year-old needs to quickly demonstrate the desire that, no doubt, made him a 20-goals-a-season man at Southend and Port Vale.

For now, while Mills seeks a remedy for his pressing problem, he might be best served – on the evidence of Saturday – turning to the likes of Till, McDermott and Lawless in more advanced positions.


Forest Green Rovers 2 (Caines 4, Styche 58), York City 1 (Lawless 71)

York City: Michael Ingham 6, Daniel Parslow 7, David McGurk 6, Chris Smith 6, James Meredith 8, Alex Lawless 7, David McDermott 7, Jonathan Smith 6, Leon Constantine 5, Michael Rankine 5, Danny Racchi 6.

Substitutions: Peter Till 7 (for Constantine 54), Chris Carruthers 6 (for Racchi, 66), Neil Barrett (for Rankine 71).

Subs not used: Jamal Fyfield, Greg Young.

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

City’s star man: Meredith – the home side found him unbeatable.


Forest Green: James Bittner, Jared Hodgkiss, Gavin Caines, Luke Jones, Craig Armstrong, Malvin Kamara (Ross Dyer, 46), Mike Fowler (Gary Mills, 62), Wayne Turk, Yan Klukowski, Liam Enver-Marum, Reece Styche (Liam Head, 83).

Subs not used: Scott Barlett, Zak Jones.


Booked: Turk 48, Styche 72.

Shots on target: Rovers 3, City 5.

Shots off target: Rovers 0, City 7.

Corners: Rovers 2, City 6.

Fouls: Rovers 16, City 16.

Offsides: Rovers 1, City 4.

Referee: Marvin Thompson (Middlesex). Rating: competent and confident.

Attendance: 792 (129 from City).

Clearance of the match: Gary Mills’ boot off the line from Lawless.

Pass of the match: Chris Smith’s raking pass to release Till down the left, leading to a chance for Barrett.

Cross of the match: McDermott’s far-post delivery for Lawless that he headed wide.


Head to head - David McDermott v Yan Klukowski

Forest Green employed Klukowski, normally a winger, in a screening role in front of City’s play-making anchorman.

As a result, the former Kidderminster midfielder struggled to probe forward and, despite retaining possession well, was often forced backwards and sidewards.

Klukowski escaped McDermott’s attentions when laying on the hosts’ crucial second goal while the City man provided more of an attacking threat when he was moved on to the right wing.


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