MANAGER Steve Watson has been left "fuming" after York City threw away the lead in a 2-1 home defeat to Brackley Town.

A true game of two halves, York were worthy leaders at the end of the first half, put ahead by star man Akil Wright midway through the 45, but never got going in the second period and conceded two late goals.

City's languid, conservative approach after the break had little in common with their first-half performance, which - though not York at their best - was a definite improvement on recent weeks and featured plenty of inspiring play.

"The message at half-time was 'nothing needs to change'. We were dominant. We wanted to go on and score the second goal to kill the game off. That's all we talked about at half-time, nothing but positivity, while still keeping a solid base," Watson said.

"What they went out and did - I need answers, let alone yourselves.

"Nothing was talked about about sitting back and letting them to move the ball with the freedom they did. We didn't test the keeper and when we had the ball, we made bad decisions and gave it away cheaply."

With five minutes remaining, Matt Lowe netted an equaliser with a 'did he mean it or didn't he?' lob and, in the 88th minute, Lee Ndlovu slid in the winner, sparking chants of "McGill out" and "sack the board" from fans who now see their side bottom of National League North with three defeats from three games.

Asked if the drop-off in quality had anything to do with nerves from a side who were getting the job done albeit not at their best on Saturday, Watson said: "That's something they're going to have to find within or that's going to blight them.

"I'm not a manager who will throw my players under the bus but that's something they will have to work out themselves - the chalk-and-cheese performances and why, when we get a little bit of pressure put on us, do we go so deep.

"It's nothing tactical. You can give them all the motivation you can but, ultimately, they have to have the bottle to get up the pitch and play and, at the moment, they can't seem to find that.

"I have absolutely no problem with people leaving here today fuming because I'm absolutely fuming myself."