ALL lenders look for good loan returns and York City boss Steve Watson certainly seems to have profited from his decision to allow Macaulay Langstaff to be borrowed by Bradford Park Avenue.

During a 1-0 home success over Southport, Langstaff claimed his fourth goal in as many games following his recall from a month-long stint at the Horsfall Stadium.

Additionally, his efforts have been responsible for four of the six points accumulated by the Minstermen during that quartet of contests.

He has also claimed an assist in that time, meaning he has had a direct hand - either as marksman of provider - in five of his side’s last seven goals.

That contribution represents a considerable elevation in Langstaff’s significance at the club with the former Billingham Synthonia attacker having taken 28 games to net his first five goals for City.

It also justifies Watson’s interest in the loan market with the 22-year-old former Middlesbrough Academy prospect now looking more of an asset to his parent club after being farmed out in February. Having netted once for Bradford, Langstaff’s 32nd-minute strike against the Sandgrounders nudged him into double figures for the season and, with Alex Kempster hitting a post and both Jasper Moon and Jordan Burrow missing gilt-edged opportunities, it earned the hosts a deserved three points in a game that provided a welcome first win in five games even if the overall performance failed to set many pulses racing.

City could also take satisfaction, however, from their first clean sheet in more than a month with debutant teenage pair Moon and Ryan Whitley deserving much credit for that achievement.

Both performed with a maturity that belied their years and a calmness that was not always emulated by their more senior counterparts.

Whitley was positive from the first whistle and, with less than two minutes on the clock, he was using his 6ft 7in frame to punch away a Reagan Ogle long throw as far as the edge of the penalty box, where Dion Charles’ half-volley drifted well over the home crossbar.

In response, Jordan Burrow won an aerial ball in the away box and, when Jake Wright helped it on to Kempster, the former Whitley Bay striker rattled Dan Hanford’s left-hand upright.

Hanford also saved Wright’s follow-up effort with the ball then smacking the City striker in the face and ricocheting over the goal.

Just past the quarter-hour mark, Whitley safely gathered David Morgan’s low 15-yard drive at his near post.

But Moon should have then made his presence felt at the other end of the pitch when Scott Burgess’ corner from the left dropped in the six-yard box only for the lunging, on-loan Barnsley centre-back to somehow stab wide with the goal at his mercy.

Langstaff displayed greater incision, though, when City took a more patient approach from a short-taken flag kick on the opposite side.

After waiting for an opening, Paddy Mclaughlin threaded a perfect pass through the right channel to the unmarked Langstaff and the in-form forward drilled a low ten-yard shot that Hanford could only help into his top-right stanchion. Following the restart, Kempster spread play down the left to David Ferguson, who found Langstaff but, on this occasion, his 25-yard attempt was safely gathered by Hanford.

As the hour approached, Southport began to threaten a little more and, after Marcus Wood’s hopeful long-range effort rolled gently to Whitley, the 19-year-old net-minder was extended more when he parried away Morgan’s curling 20-yard shot.

Morgan went on to try his luck from further out with a drive that bounced wide before Burgess and Kempster combined to create an edge-of-the-box opportunity for Langstaff, which he also directed off target tamely.

Another long-range Morgan shot lacked the venom to worry Whitley but Southport’s biggest chance of an equaliser came and went on 76 minutes when a towering Ryan Astles met substitute Morgan Homson-Smith’s corner from the right, but he directed his header well wide from six yards out.

After Langstaff had lifted another 20-yard shot out of the ground and Jordan Richards curled a free kick high and wide for the visitors, the game then petered out, allowing City to claim only their second league double of the season after taking maximum points from their two meetings with Ashton United.

The Minstermen will not get an opportunity to improve on that modest record either, having failed to defeat any of their final four opponents – Chester, Spennymoor, Bradford Park Avenue and Telford – earlier in the campaign.

City ratings

Ryan Whitley 7

Kallum Griffiths 6

Jasper Moon 7

Sean Newton 7

David Ferguson 6

Scott Burgess 6

Paddy McLaughlin 6

Alex Kempster 6

Jake Wright 6

Macaulay Langstaff 7

Jordan Burrow 6

Subs: Wes York 6 (for Wright, 70).

Subs not used: Hamza Bencherif, Jon Parkin, Josh Law, Alex Harris.

Star man: Langstaff – took his goal in clinical fashion and used ball well before deteriorating a little in the second half like the rest of the team

Southport: Dan Hanford, Jordan Richards, Ryan Astles, Matty Platt, Regan Ogle, David Morgan, Liam Edwards (Paddy Lacey, 46), Marcus Wood (Jack Sampson, 70), Devarn Green, Dion Charles (Morgan Homson-Smith, 60), Jordan Archer. Subs not used: Liam Davies, Josh Tibbetts.

Southport star man: Morgan – most positive performer in a yellow shirt

Referee: Paul Brown 7/10 – made odd error, but generally sensible

Booked: Archer 64, Sampson 87

Sent off: None

Attendance: 2,174 (140 from Southport)

Shots on target: City 4, Southport 4

Shots off target: City 5, Southport 5

Corners: City 6, Southport 9

Fouls conceded: City 7, Southport 14

Offside: City 3, Southport 1