JOHN ASKEY bemoaned the lack of intensity showed by York City in their 2-0 defeat at Kettering Town.

York quickly fell two goals behind at Latimer Park, conceding twice in the opening dozen minutes to give themselves a mountain to climb.

City struggled to create chances all night, particularly from open play, and were second-best to Kettering for large periods.

“You’re never going to get any quality playing on a pitch like this,” said manager Askey. "I can’t criticise the fact that there was no quality.

“But what I can criticise is that was no intensity in what we did. We never won any second balls, in their box or in ours.

“If you want to achieve something when you come to places like this, you’ve got to be more aggressive and a lot stronger than we were today.

“You’ve to adapt and you’ve got to adapt quickly because you can’t play (on this pitch). All you can do is get the ball forward and compete.

“Anybody who thinks they can play on that (pitch) is sadly mistaken. When the ball comes to you, you’ve more or less got to have one touch then deliver.

“What you can do when the ball comes near you is have some aggression and try and win the ball.”

Kettering went in front when captain Connor Kennedy steered in a loose ball from in the box after a throw in before Callum Stead was given acres of space to turn and score from a counter-attack.

“It should be difficult to score on these surfaces, if you compete,” Askey insisted. “The only way you score really here is from set plays, and that’s what they did.

“How somebody has time and space like they had in the box for the first goal from the thrown in, I do not know.

“On the initial throw in, the header should go out of the 18-yard box and it didn’t, it went back in because we didn’t show enough aggression.

“To allow the lad to turn for the second goal, it’s just not good enough.

“It’s nothing that we haven’t told him. It’s about people taking responsibility. Even picking people up from throw ins, people are standing there haven’t picked their man up.

“You work on that in training and you tell them so that’s what’s disappointing.

“You’re never going to get quality but you can have commitment and aggression.”

While bitterly disappointed with his side’s performances, Askey did not believe that his players gave in.

He stressed: “I don’t think heads dropped, we just didn’t start (right). They kept going but it was the start that killed us.”

York reverted to a five-man defence in a rare move under Askey following a groin injury to Michael Duckworth.

It is hoped that the right-back will be back for the weekend alongside Mitch Hancox, who missed out through illness.

“I don’t think it would have mattered what formation we played, we were just lacking,” Askey stated.

For City, a major challenge comes in how they tackle teams as direct as Kettering, particularly given they have only three of their next nine matches on the relatively carpet-like LNER Community Stadium field.

Askey reasoned: “I think that most teams you play in this league, especially away from home, it’s pretty similar. There aren’t many teams that try and play.

“Most teams get the ball, get it in the final third and try and play from there.

“The player should be used to it, because nearly every other team in the league does it.”

But before York can think too much about overcoming their opponents tactically, Askey is seeking more fight from his players and a response from the Kettering blow.

“We’re going to have disappointments and now you find out who is with you when you get results like this,” he added.

“What the players have got to do is come together and fight for what they’ve done because they’re worked really hard to get where they are.

“Now they’ve not got to let it go, they’ve got to fight hard as they have done previously because every team is after a play-off place.

“We’ve got to make sure that we’re ready for the fight on Saturday because it’s another tough game.”