YORK City Reserves might have failed to tame the Shrews last night, but the club are taking the positives from a spirited display.

With virtually a full youth team out, City were always going to have to battle and in the end perhaps deserved more than the 1-0 scoreline in Shrewsbury's favour suggests.

The majority of the squad were aged 20 or under, with debutant Graham Law, a 16-year-old first year trainee, shining at right-back.

The more experienced Alex Mathie also managed to play for the full 90 minutes, as he pushes for a start for City's trip to Rochdale on Saturday, and will feel unlucky not to have scored.

However, strike partner Peter Duffield came off after just ten minutes after taking a bang on the thigh, but the club have said the move was just a precautionary measure.

Updated: 11:49 Thursday, December 20, 2001