Barrow 0, York City 0

EVEN the appointment of a Steve Martin as referee failed to bring any light relief to a fixture that is becoming more painful to watch by the year.

York City’s last three league trips to Barrow have not yielded a singe goal for either side and Saturday’s offering was another instantly forgettable encounter.

The visitors, however, perhaps welcomed the latest stalemate more than their relegation-threatened hosts.

After all, the play-off fate of Gary Mills’ men now looks likely to hinge on maintaining their impressive home form between now and the end of the season with only four of their remaining 12 fixtures taking place away from Bootham Crescent.

City were certainly worth no more than a point at Holker Street.

Home ’keeper Clark Masters was only forced into one save all afternoon from a harmless Daniel Parslow cross-cum-shot on 66 minutes.

At the other end, Michael Ingham’s goal was hardly peppered, although the former Northern Ireland international was required to make a flying stop late on.

Barrow also hit a post and brushed the sidenetting in a belated bid to take all three points during the closing stages.

The Minstermen kicked off the game with the same 4-4-2 formation and personnel that started Tuesday night’s 2-1 home win over Gateshead.

Michael Rankine and Leon Constantine, though, are beginning to look incompatible as striking partners and the supply from the flanks was disappointing with Ashley Chambers seemingly bereft of confidence and Peter Till a little predictable.

In the middle of the park, Jonathan Smith and Scott Kerr also looked overrun at times until age and a lack of match fitness caught up respectively with 43-year-old Darren Sheridan and former Minsterman Andy Ferrell in the hosts’ 4-5-1 formation.

At the back, however, City were formidable with Parslow, in particular, snuffing out most of the home side’s attacks.

The Minstermen also made a robust start to the match with Parslow picking up an early yellow card for clattering into former team-mate Ferrell, who was also subjected to further heavy challenges from Kerr and Jonathan Smith.

Ferrell was full of enthusiasm though during the opening stages as Simon Spender called Ingham into action at his near post and Baker curled a free-kick safely into the City ’keeper’s hands.

At the other end, the visitors’ only goal attempt of a mundane first half saw Chambers lift a 25-yard shot over Masters’ crossbar.

The Minstermen briefly promised better after the interval with Jonathan Smith hooking a good chance wide from ten yards following a cross by Till just 16 seconds after the restart.

But the game continued to meander along with Baker firing disappointingly wide from 15 yards for Barrow and Parslow failing to stretch Masters at the other end.

Mills reverted to 4-3-3 for the last 25 minutes of the match and substitute Danny Racchi did provide a cross for Constantine, whose overhead kick landed on top of the netting.

But Barrow came closest to claiming a first victory in nine outings.

Baker’s rising 20-yard drive saw Ingham make an acrobatic save on 85 minutes but the City ’keeper was beaten from the consequent corner, watching on helplessly as Paul Rutherford’s effort bounced back off his right-hand post.

Centre-back Mike Pearson then came rampaging forward to brush the sidenetting with a 12-yard chance as City were rocking.

Jamie Reed then hooked the ball over in stoppage time for City but defeat would have been cruel on a Barrow team who will have been surprised at the ease with which they claimed their first clean sheet since mid-November.

Match facts

City ratings

Ingham 7, Darville 7, Parslow 8, C Smith 7, Meredith 7, Chambers 6, Kerr 7, J Smith 6, Till 6, Rankine 6, Constantine 7.

Subs: Danny Racchi 7 (for Chambers, 68), Jamie Reed 6 (for Rankine, 69). Subs not used: David McGurk, Will Hatfield, Andre Boucaud.

Star man: Parslow – read the game immaculately with a dominant display on the ground and in the air.

Barrow: Clark Masters, Simon Spender, Mike Pearson, Phil Bolland, Paul Edwards, Wayne Curtis, Richie Baker, Darren Sheridan, Andy Ferrell, Paul Rutherford, Andy Cook (Louis Almond, 74). Subs not used: Shaun Pearson, Marc Goodfellow, Eddie Toner, Andy Nicholas.

Referee: Steve Martin (Stafford) rating: if you were to rate him in relation to his Hollywood namesake's back catalogue the quality of his performance was more Planes, Trains and Automobiles than Pink Panther 2, ie pretty good.

Bookings: Parslow 8, J Smith 67.

Attendance: 1,392 (191 from City).

Save of the match: Ingham's 85th-minute flying stop looked a little over elaborate but it was the only real occasion either keeper was seriously tested.

Pass of the match: Parslow made the kind of fine long diagonal pass in the first half that Mills wanted more of from his team.

Chance of the match: Jonathan Smith should have done better with his early second-half attempt.

Head to head Jonathan Smith v Andy Ferrell What promised to be a keenly-contested battle between two of City's most combative players in recent seasons got off to a good start when the pair crashed into an early challenge. Perhaps surprisingly, though, there were few more tackles in which the pair were directly involved with one another. Ferrell made an enthusiastic start to the game before tiring while Smith, despite a strong opening to the second half, never really threatened to hit the heights of recent matches.

Shots on target: Barrow 4, City 1

Shots off target: Barrow 2, City 4

Corners: Barrow 3, City 6

Fouls conceded: Barrow 15, City 14

Offsides: Barrow 1, City 3