LONG-AWAITED league goals for Jack Redshaw and youngster Rob Guilfoyle were not enough to prevent York City from sinking to a 4-2 Boxing Day defeat at Bradford Park Avenue.

There were decent patches from the Minstermen but they did not do enough with their possession, nor did they make it hard enough for Bradford to punish them.

And punish York they did. Lewis Knight got the first of his brace inside five minutes and Regan Booty added a second 15 minutes later - both from long balls over the top.

The hosts contained City pretty comfortably, barring a frenetic few minutes around the half-hour mark when Sean Newton and Robbie Tinkler went close.

Redshaw struck a good goal just after the break but Knight was again on hand to bury a simple finish as a near-immediate response.

Guilfoyle's strike was also a neat one - though, sadly for the heralded 18-year-old, did not allow City the last word as Harry Boyes netted a fantastic 25-yard strike inside the final 10 minutes.

York drop to fifth and 12 points off the National League North summit with the defeat.

Michael Duckworth and Scott Barrow returned to the York starting 11 as two of three changes from the FA Trophy defeat a week and a half ago. Paddy McLaughlin was restored to the line-up.

Owen Gamble dropped out after picking up a hamstring injury at Ashton United and midfielder Akil Wright began the day on the bench, as did Harry Spratt.

Harry Bunn returned to the matchday squad after having sat out the Trophy tie with an injury picked up against Spennymoor Town.

Bradford came into the game winless in three in National League North and having exited the FA Trophy at the hands of Chester.

They made four changes from the 3-1 defeat. Substitutes on the night, keeper Dan Atkinson and Nicky Clee came back into the starting line-up, while Adam Nowakowski had been rested for the Trophy.

The Avenue also handed a debut to their new signing from Doncaster Rovers, 22-year-old Will Longbottom. The striker has first-team experience in Leagues One and Two, as well as National League North with Kidderminster Harriers.

Bradford took the lead in the fifth minute through Lewis Knight, the man who got the late consolation at Chester. From Atkinson’s goal kick, Longbottom nodded down and Knight held off the City defence before finishing low and across into Pete Jameson’s bottom right-hand corner.

City responded with a trio of corners, the latter resulting in two neatly worked, though inconsequential, passages of play around the area.

At the other end, York defenders had been caught backing off Bradford’s marauding, often lone, attackers and Brad Dockerty made it into the area before Robbie Tinkler nicked the ball with a perfectly timed challenge.

Knight was making a nuisance of himself as the target of balls over the top and had a chance to double his tally from similar range to his first effort but he scuffed wide.

A curling first-time ball from McLaughlin almost set Jack Redshaw away as the striker got in behind the Avenue defence but Atkinson made a good intervention.

Defender Regan Booty doubled Bradford’s lead in the 20th minute. He latched onto another ball over the top, trundled forward, and a slip in the middle of York’s defence gave him the time to pick his spot low to Jameson’s left.

As the half-hour mark approached, York had offered little in an otherwise decent contest. The visitors’ five corners were testament to their intent and good play in midfield – but that the set pieces yielded so few viable efforts highlighted the hard time they were having breaking Bradford down.

In the five minutes either side of the half-hour, York established some dominance in possession and doubled their shot count from the preceding 25 minutes. Sean Newton flashed a header across goal from a corner and Michael Woods put a very tricky volley over, though Tinkler’s drive from range remained the Minstermen’s sole effort on target.

Seemingly largely content to sit back and frustrate York, Bradford’s punts forward to the isolated Knight were also proving largely effective. He was laid off into the area in acres of space as the clock hit 45 minutes, was able to round Jameson and was only denied by an outstretched foot from a prone Matty Brown. The header from Nicky Clee’s corner went inches wide.

Redshaw carved out York’s first chance of the second half, chesting a ball down for Michael Woods and receiving the return pass. He cut back on himself twice before his left-footed strike was saved with relative ease by Atkinson.

He flashed a header wide not long after – then got York back into it in the 56th minute with a low shot from outside the area. It hit both posts but crossed the line somewhere in between.

City’s relief was short-lived though, as just a minute later, Knight had his second. From a shot that rebounded out off the far post, the in-form striker had an easy finish.

With the wind behind them, Bradford’s punts forward became less effective as the ball carried well beyond its intended target. Goalmouth action was scarcer following the hosts’ third though York remained the better side on the ball. Still, Bradford would not bend.

But second-half substitute Rob Guilfoyle snatched another for City in the 70th minute with a smart shot on the turn from outside the area, leaving Atkinson rooted as it arrowed into the shot-stopper’s bottom-right corner.

Harry Boyes restored Bradford’s two-goal advantage with eight minutes remaining. From 25 yards, it was a clean left-footed strike which swerved inexorably into Jameson’s top-right corner.

Bradford: Atkinson, Ross, Boyes, Booty, L Lyons, Windass, Longbottom, Nowakowski, Dockerty, Knight, Clee (Sanyang 90). Subs not used: J Lyons, Fawcett, Hussain, Downing.

Goals: Knight (5, 57), Booty (20), Boyes (82)

York: Jameson 5, Duckworth 5, Brown 5, Newton 5, Barrow 6, Tinkler 6 (Guilfoyle 5, 60), Woods 5, McLaughlin 5 (Wright 5, HT), Dyson 5 (Bunn 5, HT), Cassidy 5, Redshaw 6. Subs not used: Flatters, Spratt.

Star man: Jack Redshaw. Showed good work rate in the second half and took his goal well.

Goals: Redshaw (56), Guilfoyle (70)

Yellow cards: Wright

Referee: Tom Kirk

Stats for Bradford Park Avenue / York City

Shots (on target): 11 (5) / 18 (7)

Corners: 3 / 7

Offsides: 0 / 2

Fouls: 8 / 6

Yellow cards: 0 / 1