"IT would have been a good time to play Fylde," said York City boss John Askey after receiving the disappointing news that Saturday's National League North game has been called off.

For the second fixture in a row, Covid cases within the opposition camp are at the root of a City game being postponed, with last Sunday's home game against Bradford Park Avenue also falling to freshly resurgent infections.

City are yet to play a game in 2022, a state of affairs which seems particularly cruel (if not in-keeping with their luck this season) given that Askey might have had that rarest of luxuries on Saturday: the ability to pick a near-enough first-choice 11 to try to build on what was arguably the side's best performance of term so far.

The Minstermen's last game, on December 28, ended with a 1-0 win over an obdurate Alfreton Town, who did as much as they could to frustrate the hosts out of three points. In the end, it was a solitary Paddy McLaughlin goal on the hour mark that got City deservedly over the line following some neat play.

Fylde, meanwhile, have also been out of action since late December, when they needed a last-gasp Ben Tollitt goal to earn them a 2-2 draw at home to Steve Watson's Chester. Prior to that, the Coasters had lost three games on the bounce, two in the league and one in the FA Trophy.

On top of their contrasting recent results, City were also heading into the game with a relatively clean bill of health, with only the recovering Michael Woods, who has not featured since late October, and the suspended Matty Brown mentioned as players who would have missed the weekend's trip.

"Fylde are probably the biggest club in the league, money-wise. They've spent a lot of money and it would have been a good test for us," Askey commented.

"I think going in to the game, they were always going to be favourites with the money they've spent but momentum was probably with us.

"They've not done so well in recent weeks and there is a lot of pressure on them.

"It would have been a good time to play them."

Both Bradford and Fylde would have provided different, but equally welcome, tests for a side Askey is gently moulding into his preferred kind of outfit.

Bradford are languishing in 21st, just three points off the foot of the table, while Fylde led the way in the division for a few weeks. Even now, they are within touching distance of the summit, and 11 points ahead of City.

The focus now for York is making sure that they are ready to respond when a game does strike.

Askey added: "Not being able to play against Bradford, we were thinking going into that game pretty everybody's fit, a great chance of getting three points.

"We were playing at home and the crowd were getting behind us. We could have carried that on so there's disappointment from that but we're getting used to the disappointment of not playing.

"We've just got to be right when we play next.

"It's virtually the same for everybody - everybody has to get used to playing, not playing, and playing again.

"Hopefully when we do play, everybody will be right."