YORK City first-team coach Kingsley James has implored that, though it has taken time for this new-look York side to reach a solid position, the team “still want to improve.”

York were beaten 1-0 by fellow Vanarama National League side Notts County on Saturday in what was both their centenary game and their final pre-season match.

City rounded out a six-match calendar of friendlies, having won just once in beating Selby Town 4-0 on Tuesday.

In spite of the loss, James noted that his team played well, but insisted that though he knows it has taken time for his side to reach a position of solidarity, after making 15 new signings in the summer, they still want to better themselves.

When asked if he was happy with what he’s seen throughout pre-season, regardless of results, James said: “Definitely. I think you can coast through pre-season and win every game against whoever and get carried away, thinking there’s no work to be done and that you’ll turn teams over. 

“It doesn’t work like that. We’ve got a lot of new players, it’s taken time to get into a position where we’re happy and we’re still not happy, we still want to improve and get better. 

“I think we saw we’re fit, I thought we looked organised and we kept the ball really well in spells. 

“We could have kept it a lot better and been more patient, but that’s the work we have to continue doing.

“I don’t think we’re ever where we want to be, I don’t think we’re ever fully happy with where we’re at. I did numerous interviews last season off the back of good wins, but we want to improve all the time. 

“That has to be our mentality, especially in this league. We can’t just think, ‘we’re happy with where we are or what we’ve got’, we need to keep getting better and keep improving. 

“I thought we did really well against a team that should be challenging for the league title.”