ALEX HURST delivered “the reaction that we wanted” in York City’s 5-0 win at Barnet, John Askey enthused.

Hurst scored York’s second goal at The Hive, driving a low shot into the bottom left corner midway inside the first half.

The winger was City’s stand-out player in a dominant victory in North London, having the run of the right wing throughout and causing the Barnet backline numerous problems.

“Alex needed that,” said manager Askey. “He’d lost a bit of confidence in games previously. I don’t know why, he just seemed to.

“We brought him back in and his reaction was what we wanted. He had shown that (ability) in training, it seemed that the rest had done him good and he started scoring goals in training.

“That’s why we brought him back in and that goal for him was important because that’s the only thing he’s been lacking.

“Hopefully that’ll spur him on now.”

Defenders Fraser Kerr and Sam Sanders were also on the scoresheet for City while top-scorer Lenell John-Lewis continued his strong start to the season with a second-half brace.

“I think there were one or two questions about whether Lenny would score at this level,” said Askey. “But he just keeps going from strength to strength.

“Our biggest problem is getting him ready for Tuesday (at FC Halifax Town, 7.45pm). He’s a big player for us.

“We expect a lot of him and that’s really why I’m trying to get another centre forward in who can carry the load a little bit off Lenny.

“I’m sure he’ll do everything right and be ready for Tuesday.”

The dominant victory for City saw them return to winning ways in the Vanarama National League after a 3-1 defeat to Notts County and a 1-1 draw at Scunthorpe United.

"We needed that after last Saturday and it gets us back and up and running again,” Askey added.

“We didn’t have as much energy against Scunthorpe or Notts County, whether that was down to one or two personnel that we didn’t have and those (replacements) not being used to playing, I don’t know.

“We emphasised that we needed to get back to what we had been doing with our work-rate and to have the confidence to play when we’ve got it.

“Luckily, it all seemed to come together. We needed to start scoring some goals and create some opportunities and we could have scored a lot more (than five).”