YORK City boss Steve Watson hailed top-scorer Jordan Burrow as the squad’s “most mentally strong player” after his 89th-minute penalty secured a 3-2 win at Alfreton.

In a see-saw encounter, the Minstermen forged ahead following an early goal by Sean Newton, only for Reece Styche’s brace to turn the tables.

Styche went on to hit the crossbar with his second spot kick of the afternoon, before Alex Kempster levelled on 85 minutes and Burrow converted from 12 yards for his 15th goal of the campaign.

The ex-Gateshead forward had seen his previous penalty saved seven days earlier against Chorley, before following up to net, but he smashed in a decisive effort as the Minstermen ended a losing streak of eight away league defeats by picking up maximum points.

Skipper Burrow has now scored six of his eight penalties this term, with Watson declaring: “Jordan’s probably the most mentally strong player in the squad and that’s why he’s got the armband. It takes a lot of bottle to do what he did, and I’m delighted for him.

“There was no thought process about him not taking the penalty and he took the ball straight away, which I always think is a great trait for a striker.”

Burrow’s late winner lifted City three positions up the National North standings, but Watson insisted he still wants his new team to perform a “hell of a lot better”, deadpanning: “I think this job should have come with a health warning.

“I thought we totally dominated the first half and Barts (Adam Bartlett) did not have a save to make but, true to form, we still gifted them a goal. In the second half, there was then a long spell when we looked a little bit lost and seemed to run out of ideas.

“We were lumping the ball route one and I don’t want to play like that. We’ve got good midfielders who you want to get on the ball, but they have to look for it as well.

“We kept believing, though, and got a bit of luck with their penalty miss and the ball falling to Kemps for our equaliser, which he finished tremendously. I still want to play a hell of a lot better than we did but, whilst it won’t be our best win of the season, it might be our most important, because it’s a monkey off our back in terms of winning away and can, perhaps, turn us in a positive direction.”

Styche won both the penalties awarded to his side, with the first coming after he teased a foul out of City’s 20-year-old on-loan defender Tom Bradbury, who Watson argued can benefit from being given a difficult time against the seasoned campaigner he coached at Macclesfield.

“Reece Styche winds people up and plays the referee well and he got a couple of penalties from that,” Watson suggested. “But, hopefully, young Tom will learn from that and get better.

“Reece is very cunning, and you don’t come up against people like him in under-23 football, but Tom’s an intelligent lad and you only learn from being out on the pitch.”

Alfreton’s second spot kick was given after 33-year-old City debutant David Mirfin was adjudged to have hauled Styche down, but Watson was pleased with the ex-Scunthorpe centre-half’s performance following his arrival on loan from Mansfield.

“He got 90 minutes under his belt and the more games he plays the better and fitter he will get,” Watson reasoned. “He reads the game really well.

“He’s also a good talker, which is one of the reasons we brought him in and he’s great around the place. I want him to organise and be my voice on the pitch and he kept a good line at times too.”

Watson is expecting to bring in another new signing before Tuesday night’s home match with fourth-bottom Hereford and also admitted the second-half displays of substitutes Wes York, Alex Harris and Jake Wright in Derbyshire has given him food for thought in terms of his next starting XI.

“The subs did well,” he said. “Alex Harris looked composed on the ball and I thought we missed that at times.”

Watson changed his wing-backs against Alfreton with Newton and Kallum Griffiths replacing David Ferguson and York, while Kempster was used as an out-and-out striker with the new manager continuing to search for the best candidates to fill the roles in his favoured 3-5-2 formation.

“Sean Newton started off like he was on fire and I want my wing-backs to be positive, get in the box and be a threat,” the ex-Everton and Newcastle defender added. “I don’t want a back five and he got a brilliant goal with a good bit of thinking and gambling but, in the second half, there was a long spell when he was out of the game like a lot of others.

“Wes York came on though and did well on the other side and there’s nobody worse for opposition players to come up against than him late in the game because, with his energy, he can be a threat. Alex Kempster has also probably been our most positive player and he sees himself playing a bit higher up the pitch, so we tried that, and he worked really hard up there before he was rewarded with his goal.”

Hamza Bencherif hobbled off during the second half after receiving a kick on the ankle and will be assessed prior to the Hereford match.