YORK City’s 4-0 home victory over Darlington represented a perfect start to 2019, but this afternoon’s National League North trip to Curzon Ashton will offer more clues as to whether it really is case of new year, new beginning.

Goals from Hamza Bencherif (2), Jordan Burrow and Jake Wright against the Quakers represented a club-record January 1 win for the Minstermen in the final New Year’s Day contest to be staged at Bootham Crescent.

It is not the side’s form at their 87-year-old base that was a concern, however, during the last calendar year.

From the 17 teams that competed in National League North throughout 2018, only current table-toppers Chorley lost as few games as 13th-placed City in front of their own fans.

Both teams only suffered four reverses on their home grounds, with the Minstermen’s coming against Harrogate Town (0-2), Alfreton (1-2), Kidderminster (0-3) and Bradford Park Avenue (1-4).

In fact, City also collected more points (37) on their own turf during that 12-month period than top-seven sides Park Avenue (34) and Spennymoor (28), while equalling the amount accumulated by third-placed Stockport over that period.

Telford, meanwhile, racked up the most home points in 2018, with six more than the Minstermen, but they benefitted from playing one more fixture at their Shropshire stadium.

The North Yorkshire outfit’s record on the road, though, presented a very sorry contrast, with no team in the division picking up fewer points (16), enjoying fewer wins (four) and suffering more defeats (15). Only Darlington, Telford, Ashton United and Southport were despatched on City’s travels last year and, when the 2018 home and away records are combined, the club ranked a grim 13th out of the 17 sides – just one point ahead of Leamington, who played two games fewer.

Finding a regular league marksman last year also proved troublesome for the Minstermen with left-back Sean Newton, currently out of the squad and the subject of a disciplinary hearing at Bootham Crescent, netting the most times with nine goals.

Jon Parkin, who did not feature in any of the year’s last eight matches and hasn’t started a game since September 1, is second in that list on seven ahead of five-goal pair Jordan Burrow and Macaulay Langstaff. Finding an answer for City’s travel-sick form and a contender to pick up the goalscoring mantle that has not been grasped following Parkin’s 36-strong haul in 2017 will, therefore, be high on manager Sam Collins’ list of New Year’s resolutions.

National League North 2018 Home and Away Records

Played Won Drawn Lost GF GA Pts

Chorley 43 22 12 9 67 41 78

Stockport 42 21 11 10 70 44 74

Kidderminster 42 20 11 11 75 53 71

Bradford PA 42 20 10 12 74 58 70

Brackley 42 19 11 12 71 47 68

Telford 44 18 9 17 59 64 63

Boston 41 18 8 15 61 49 62

Spennymoor 41 16 12 13 73 58 60

Darlington 43 14 15 14 67 64 57

Blyth 43 17 6 20 65 69 57

Southport 40 16 6 18 62 53 54

Alfreton 43 15 9 19 64 70 54

CITY 44 14 11 19 51 66 53

Leamington 42 13 13 16 54 66 52

FC United 42 11 10 21 46 69 43

Curzon Ashton 41 10 12 19 43 61 42

Nuneaton 44 11 9 24 40 69 42

National League North 2018 Home Records

Telford 22 13 4 5 39 29 43

Kidderminster 21 12 4 5 44 31 40

Chorley 20 11 5 4 30 16 38

Blyth 22 12 2 8 41 25 38

Brackley 22 10 7 5 41 25 37

Stockport 22 10 7 5 34 18 37

CITY 21 10 7 4 31 26 37

Bradford PA 20 10 4 6 33 24 34

Boston 22 10 3 9 36 30 33

Leamington 21 8 7 6 28 29 31

Darlington 22 8 5 9 35 27 29

Southport 20 8 4 8 30 21 28

Spennymoor 20 7 7 6 33 26 28

FC United 21 6 5 10 30 30 23

Alfreton 21 6 5 10 29 37 23

Curzon Ashton 21 5 6 10 22 31 21

Nuneaton 21 4 8 9 18 36 20

National League North 2018 Away Records

Chorley 23 11 7 5 37 25 40

Stockport 20 11 4 5 34 26 37

Bradford PA 22 10 6 6 41 34 36

Spennymoor 21 9 5 7 40 32 32

Kidderminster 21 8 7 6 31 22 31

Brackley 20 9 4 7 30 22 31

Alfreton 22 9 4 9 35 33 31

Boston 19 8 5 6 25 19 29

Darlington 21 6 10 5 32 37 28

Southport 20 8 2 10 32 32 26

Nuneaton 23 7 1 15 22 33 22

FC United 21 5 5 11 16 39 22

Curzon Ashton 20 5 6 9 21 30 21

Leamington 21 5 6 10 26 37 21

Telford 22 5 5 12 20 35 20

Blyth 19 5 4 12 24 44 19

CITY 23 4 4 15 20 40 16

York City’s National League North 2018 scorers (with more than one goal): Newton 9, Parkin 7, Burrow 5, Langstaff 5, Connolly 4, Burn 3, Wright 3, Heslop 2, Kempster 2, Moke 2.