YORK City caretaker boss Sam Collins hailed the merits of 3-5-2 football after his players eased into the third qualifying round of the FA Cup.

Goals from David Ferguson, Jordan Burrow, Joe Tait, debutant Alex Harris and sub Wes York saw City see off North West Counties League bottom club Ashton Athletic 5-0.

The comfortable home victory was achieved after Collins dispensed with the 4-3-3 formation that he has pinned his faith in during the first four games of his temporary tenure and the former Hull City and Port Vale defender admitted he could now look to use the new system in National League North.

“We played the different formation, because I wanted an extra centre-forward on the pitch and a midfield player breaking forward,” Collins explained. “We wanted to look at wing-backs and three centre-halves as well and we took a lot from the game.

“We had Josh Law and Sean Newton in the wide centre-back positions and they’ve both played as full-backs, so I didn’t just want them to just stay in shape. I wanted them to create over-loads when we could, and I think we have lots of options going forward and this was the right time to have a look at that system.

“Looking back at the last game (the 3-0 home defeat to Kidderminster), we could have changed things at a certain period but, because we’d done well with the way we’d line up in the games before, we kept it as it was. But we’ve got a lot of energy in the team and lots of players who can break forward with the ball and, if you move it around quickly, as we were doing, that will trouble anyone.

“We played with enthusiasm and aggression on the ball and we’ve worked on that a lot.”

Wing-back Ferguson opened the scoring from the game’s first attack in the second game, with Collins adding: “We wanted to put on a professional performance and we managed to do that.

“With the game won, we got a bit sloppy and took too many touches at times in the second half, but we played really well in the first half. The first goal came at a perfect time and settled the team down.

“That was pleasing because we’ve all played in these games and you don’t want to give the opposition something to hang on to. As a collective group, it was a really positive day, because Jordan Burrow scored his first goal, we had five different people on the scoresheet and got a goal from a set-play.”

Centre-back Hamza Bencherif played no part in the game, having played every minute of the campaign previously, with Collins saying: “In the practice game against Leeds on Tuesday, he felt a bit of tightness in his groin, so we didn’t want to risk turning it into something more serious.”