Anxious wait over Smith as York City manager hails point (From York Press)

Anxious wait over Chris Smith as York City manager hails point

11:20am Monday 24th September 2012 in News By Dave Flett, Sports reporter

YORK City manager Gary Mills is hopeful skipper Chris Smith will shrug off a hamstring twinge in time to face Aldershot this weekend.

But midfielder John McReady is likely to be sidelined for at least two months after dislocating his shoulder during the second half of Saturday’s 0-0 home draw with Cheltenham.

Centre-back Smith was withdrawn at the interval against the Robins after pulling up late in the half but, by taking swift action, Mills believes his captain could return for the Hampshire clash.

The City boss said: “Chris Smith isn’t too bad. We took him off as a precautionary measure because we didn’t want his hamstring going all together and risk losing him for weeks.

“We also knew Dan Parslow wouldn’t let us down in there, so moved him back from midfield.”

McReady, yet to start a game for the Minstermen, was introduced earlier than on his two previous outings for the club but only lasted 11 minutes before needing to be replaced himself by Matty Blair .

Confirming the 20-year-old midfielder’s condition, Mills said: “It’s a dislocated shoulder so we will have to wait and see how long that will keep him out. I thought it was ideal for him to come on because there was a bit of space between their centre-halves and midfielders for him to work in, but then that goes and happens.”

In a game of few opportunities, City substitute Lee Bullock had his team’s best chance saved, while Michael Ingham expertly kept out a Shaun Harrad header and Kaid Mohammed also hit the crossbar in the second half for the visitors.

Mills added he was disappointed not to win the match but still emphasised the value of another point gained for his 15th-placed team, saying: “I thought we edged it and it was a game there to win if we had shown that little bit extra to break them down in the final third.

“We had a couple of good chances with Bully probably having the best but the positives were a clean sheet and another big, big point.

“I felt there was a bit of disappointment around the ground but for the right reasons because it was a game we should have won.

“We got a point and, while people might have wanted more, you cannot knock a point.

“I’m delighted with the ten we’ve got so far and, while we all want to win every game, when you don’t it’s important not to lose.

“We are tough to beat and nobody has outclassed us or looked better than us so far. We let ourselves down in the second half at Burton when we gave them too much space but I felt we were the better side against Cheltenham.

“At times, it felt like they were waiting for us to score but we might have tired in the last quarter of an hour because we worked so hard.”

Mills kept faith with Jamal Fyfield in a left-back position that he has admitted has been problematic this season and he was pleased with the former Maidenhead defender’s performance against Cheltenham danger-man Jermaine McGlashan.

The City boss said: “I thought Jamal did excellently. We have addressed the left-back position and I thought he was on the front foot from the start and the winger, who he was up against and is a good player, was taken off.

“When I was a full-back and that happened, I used to smile to myself because it meant you’d got the better of them. I thought he did that, so well done to him.”