MICKY CUMMINS believes York’s 1-1 draw with Kidderminster will serve as a “kick up the backside” to the City players.

In a largely flat display, York led at half-time thanks Kallum Griffiths’ opener but Kidderminster rescued a merited point as Ashley Hemmings equalised in the final 10 minutes.

It was the first time this season that National League North leaders York have dropped points having been leading at half-time.

While keen not to be too down on a draw which extends York’s unbeaten run to 19 games this season, assistant manager Cummins thinks the match is a reminder of what it takes to win a game at this level.

"We’re not playing great at the minute but we’re still getting points on the board,” he reflected.

“We’ve still got that eight-point gap too.

“There are teams in form below us but we just need to keep motoring on ourselves. Today wasn’t fatal but it’s a kick up the backside to say that we have to be at our best week in, week out if we are to come away with three points.

“We know that we can’t just turn up and think that we’re going to win. To get the points, we need someone to stand up and win us the game.

“We need individuals to come up with that creative spark, to take on that onus and create an impetus upon the game.

“We just didn’t have that. Our possession, turnovers and transitions weren’t there. We gave the ball away a lot. But we’ll address that.

“In the dressing room, the lads are really downbeat. But the reality is that we’re still in a strong position. Nothing has been won or lost today.

"In some ways it’s good that they are disappointed to come away without the win and hopefully we’ll see a reaction from them next week.”

York’s efforts on goal were limited throughout and aside from Griffiths’ strike, Kieran Green was the only other player to trouble the Kidderminster goalkeeper.

“I’m not sure you can quite put your finger on what was missing,” Cummins added. “I think we went long too many times into Jordan (Burrow).

“He won his fair share but we didn’t really get much joy from that. Then you’re looking for your midfielders to dominate and take control, but they had the extra man in there and were quite dominant.

“We tried to change that in the second half by bringing Greeny (Kieran Green) on. We were indecisive with our passing - too slow and a bit sloppy. Our play in the final third just wasn’t there and that has been the case in previous games too.

“It was a frustrating afternoon. We were a bit loose with the ball, we didn’t create much, we were slow.

“None of our strikers had shots on target. Of the three shots on target, two were from Griff (Kallum Griffiths) and one was from Greeny (Kieran Green).

“If you look at those stats, we know that we’ve got to do better than that. They came with a game plan and that diamond in midfield meant that they dominated the possession but it was really in their half or the middle of the pitch.

“They didn’t really test Pete (Jameson), apart from with long-range shots.”