YORK City boss Sam Collins praised his team for shaking off the effects of a sickness bug to secure a 2-0 home win over FC United of Manchester.

Alex Bray was forced off after just 25 minutes due to the illness and, although Collins admitted the performance could have been better, he reasoned that the side’s standards were affected by “five or six players” feeling under the weather.

A goal in each half from Alex Harris and Jordan Burrow – the latter from the penalty spot – saw the Minstermen move up four places to 13th in the National League North table and Collins confessed: “I’m absolutely delighted to get the three points because we had five or six players who were suffering from a bug who got through the game, while Alex Bray had to come off with it.

“We didn’t play very well in the first half when some of them were maybe getting the bug out of their system, but we hung in there and Adam Bartlett was outstanding for us and you need that sometimes. I think they’re a good footballing team as well and they caused us some problems, but we showed a lot of character in the second half to play better and, even though Adam made another good save, we had two or three situations going forward on the counter attack when, with the right decision, we could have scored before the penalty.

“Ultimately, though, we got a clean sheet and the lads showed their determination to win the game despite not feeling well. We just have to hope the bug doesn’t go through the rest of the team now before Tuesday night’s game against Leamington.”

Collins also welcomed a more purposeful display after the interval, adding: “We look a lot better as a team when we play with a bit of urgency and we did in the second half. When Adriano Moke plays with urgency, as he did in the second half, he looks a really good player and, changing the formation at half-time seemed to help, because they played through us a bit too easily in the central areas during the first half and we nullified that a lot better in the second half.”

The half-time change saw Joe Ironside replace left-back Sean Newton as City dispensed with their 4-2-3-1 formation and fielded two orthodox strikers.

Newton was withdrawn as a precautionary measure due to a muscle strain and Ironside’s striking partner Burrow went on to claim his ninth goal of the season on 86 minutes.

Having seen his skipper also bag a brace last weekend in the 3-1 FA Trophy triumph at Kidderminster, Collins is now hoping that Burrow can demonstrate his ability to score goals in batches, adding: “It was the same Jordan as always in terms of how hard he works, and I’m delighted that he’s scored again.

“In the first half, he was playing up front on his own and, then, he got a bit more help in the second half with Joe Ironside up there. He continues to set an example for everyone as captain with his attitude and, having gone on a run of six goals in six games earlier in the season, he’s now got three in two so, hopefully, he can go on a similar run again.”

Fellow marksman Harris received plaudits too for his second goal for the club with Collins pointing out: “Alex Harris chased a lost cause to get himself into a really good situation and he’s probably the one player in our team you want to see on the end of something like that, because of his technical ability and he’s a really talented lad, who does some really good things in games. He’s really effective in that number-10 role when you get the ball to him.”