York City 'going in the right direction' says Steve Watson

Those were the words of York City manager Steve Watson after his side ran out as 3-1 winners over Southport to get their Vanarama National League North promotion push back on track.

After the sides exchanged goals in quick succession in the first half, Akil Wright’s header put City back in front on the hour.

But there were several nervy moments for York and victory was not ensured until Olly Dyson’s late tap-in.

After the shock defeat to Hereford last time out in the league, the victory sees City back to winning ways in the league and slowly climbing up the table, rising to ninth.

“I thought we were great,” reflected Watson. "We were against a team that it is virtually impossible to sometimes get the ball down against.

“I thought we controlled it and looked as comfortable as we did against Whitby, but obviously we’re against a better quality opponent with more danger.

“They’re a team that has just knocked Spennymoor out of the FA Cup. They didn’t cause us any surprises with the way that they played and it’s not easy to play against.

“I thought that Olly was brilliant and I thought the two centre midfielders complimented each other really well.

“All in all, I thought we looked good. I was disappointed with the goal, that goes without saying, we should have picked up the second ball, and you’re never happy with that.

“But we’re slowly getting there.”

After the FA Cup win over Whitby, Watson believed his side could have had more than the two goals they managed.

Once again, after the Southport win, the manager felt that the Minstermen could have been on the scoresheet more often.

“Coming off at 3-1, we could have had a couple more goals, I don’t think it’s out of the question to ask for that,” he said.

“But there’s a lot of positives. Clayton (Donaldson) worked his socks off again, Kurt (Willoughby) looked very good for an hour and, considering we’re still playing with two centre midfielders in the back four, we’re slowly getting there.”