YORK City boss Steve Watson admitted he is desperate for a “90-minute performance” after his side drew 1-1 at Guiseley.

The Minstermen have now shared the spoils in three consecutive contests, being pegged back against Boston and Guiseley having led in both games at the interval, either side of fighting back with ten men following a poor first period at FC United of Manchester.

At Nethermoor, Paddy McLaughlin’s header gave the visitors a tenth-minute lead during a commanding opening period, but Kingsley James levelled after the interval and Alex Purser went on to hit the post for the hosts, as they had the better of a disjointed second half, leading Watson to declare: “It was a game of two halves again.

“I thought we were excellent in the first 45 minutes and it was probably the best we’ve played since I’ve been here in terms of a complete performance, but I desperately need 90 minutes of that, because I’m yet to see it. Their manager admitted to me that they got battered in the first half and he feared the worst.

“They couldn’t get out of their half and couldn’t get near us on the ball. We created chances and, this time, I wouldn’t say we wasted them.

“We made good decisions and we got a great goal but, otherwise, there was nothing really clear-cut, and they made some good blocks. In the second half, though, the ball wasn’t on the floor right from the kick off for five or ten minutes and we allowed ourselves to be sucked into the way they play because, when we had the chance to get on the ball, we just lumped it like them.

“We have good footballers and we’re not set up to play like that, so it was never the game-plan.”

The point actually saw the Minstermen move up a place to 13th position in the table, but the gap to the top seven widened to ten points and, with only five fixtures left to play, Watson argued it all seems a little futile to keep hanging on to the club’s forlorn hopes of gate-crashing the play-offs, whilst he won’t accept any drop off in standards.

“We’ve only lost one game in the last eight, but another two points went begging and, whilst I have used the play-offs to motivate myself and everyone around the club, you have to be realistic about where we have come from,” he reasoned. “We were five points outside the relegation zone not so long ago and although, while it is still possible, we’ll give it everything we can, I don’t think we can keep mentioning the play-off situation after every game at this stage. It’s just a case of if we get there, we get there.”

Joe Tait, meanwhile, was given only his second outing in 2019 at Guiseley with Watson suggesting that he had merited selection ahead of the dropped Hamza Bencherif as Sean Newton’s central-defensive partner.

“Joe has trained well for the last two or three weeks and, whilst Hamza was the next one to bring in when David Mirfin was injured, we conceded three goals on Tuesday night and, if I’m true to my word in terms of training being important, Joe deserved to go in for the way he’s worked and his attitude,” the City chief explained. “He’s a good talker and I don’t think he put a foot wrong for us.

“Their goal wasn’t down to him and, while we were playing against a team that play for set-plays, fouls, free kicks and long throws, we defended them really well, which was a weakness on Tuesday night. We conceded because two lads knocked off and, whilst it’s difficult for anybody to get through a whole game without making a mistake, you have to keep your concentration for 90 minutes.”

Tait’s recall was one of two changes made by Watson, who was also happy with skipper Jordan Burrow’s reaction on his return after been left out of the starting XI for the first time since mid-September four days earlier at FC United.

“Jordan worked his socks off and was a massive handful for them,” Watson pointed out. “Their defenders never won a clear header against him, but we just needed our ball retention in the corners to be better from Macca (Macaulay Langstaff) and Kemps (Alex Kempster), because we were getting countered on from those situations.”

Watson was pleased with McLaughlin’s first goal since returning for a second spell at the club, meanwhile, as he converted from a Scott Burgess cross.

The City manager revealed: “We’ve been working on our midfielders getting up the field and demanding more shots on goal from them and Paddy made a really well-timed run to get on the end of a good ball in from his midfield partner.”