YORK CITY suffered back-to-back defeats against relegation candidates, as Maidenhead United bested the Minstermen at the LNER Community Stadium.

David Webb’s side fell to a miserable 2-1 defeat at the hands of Maidenhead, who grasped their first league victory since mid-November against a lacklustre York team.

It was déjà vu for City, after falling to a 2-0 loss against Oldham Athletic on Tuesday night.

York were underwhelming once again with their performance, with City now sitting 15th place in the Vanarama National League and are just seven points ahead of the dreaded relegation zone.

Maidenhead took the lead in the first half through Ashley Nathaniel-George after a clever cutback from Reece Smith was neatly tucked away.

And the Magpies doubled their lead in the second half thanks to former Birmingham City midfielder Charlee Adams, as his deflected strike caught young goalkeeper Ryan Whitley out.

York did pull one back through captain Lenell John-Lewis, who netted his first home league goal of the season, after latching onto Manny Duku’s header to calmly poke the ball past Alexis Andre Jr.

Ryan Whitley was brought back into the squad following a head injury to Ethan Ross in midweek after his short loan stint with Boston United.

Ollie Tanner was also handed a first start in York City colours after joining on loan from Cardiff City, after back-to-back bench appearances against Chelmsford City and Oldham.

Shaq Forde has had a bright start to his York career with four goals in his first five games for the Minstermen, and nearly gifted City an early lead after Nathan Thomas picked out the Watford loanee in the centre, but his strike was swept wide.

Whitley was called into action just 11 minutes into his first league start of the season as Maidenhead top scorer Emile Acquah was played in behind, but Whitley made a brilliant stop to deny the Magpies an early lead. The danger wasn’t yet averted however, as Fraser Kerr was forced into a goal line clearance to prevent the rebound being disposed of.

Maidenhead were slowly beginning to show an early dominance in the game with Whitley being kept busy, as a solid block from Ryan Fallowfield denied Acquah’s original effort, before Smith’s follow-up strike narrowly rose over the bar.

Kerr was a positive in defence for York, and nearly provided assistance at the other end as his header was nodded just over the bar.

John-Lewis would later on go and get his goal, but came close to doing so much earlier after shrugging off the pressure of Dean Beckwith before forcing Andre Jr into a reactive stop.

But with Maidenhead edging the game and looking the more likely, they found their breakthrough.

A good run from Smith on the right-hand side saw the winger pull the ball back into the path of Nathaniel-George, who slammed the ball home from close-range to end any hopes of a dream clean sheet for Whitley and to gift Maidenhead a first-half lead.

On the brink of half-time, York looked to grasp a last-ditch equaliser before the referee’s whistle, as John-Lewis’ half-volley narrowly skidded wide of the target.

Heading into the second half, Olly Dyson found space on the wing before lifting a cross onto the head of Forde, but he couldn’t generate the power to trouble Andre Jr who calmly smothered the effort.

Tanner was handed his first start since joining on loan from Cardiff and didn’t prove to have the same immediate influence fellow loanee Forde did, which was summed up with a sliced half-volley attempt after Dyson’s original cross was cleared.

The winger would once again have an opportunity to net on his full debut, as some nice link-up play involving Forde and John-Lewis saw the ball laid into Tanner’s path, but his shot was blasted into the stands.

And with York potentially looking like they could find a lifeline and an equaliser back into the game, Whitley was mistaken by reportedly using his hand rather than his thing on a back pass, which the referee deemed illegal and awarded as a free-kick inside the York box.

Adams stepped up to take the close-ranged free-kick, and saw his powerful strike deflected through the crowd of City bodies before nestling into the back of the net to the frustrations of Whitley, who may feel he should have done more.

Controversy would follow too with Webb’s decision to substitute Dan Pybus for Duku in the 66th minute, causing a rash reaction of frustration from Pybus, similar to what has been seen from Duku and Forde in the past.

And to make matters worse for York, it was nearly three minutes later as Acquah latched onto a poor clearance from the back and struck a venomous strike goalwards, which thankfully fizzed wide of the target.

The Minstermen were beginning to look down and out with just under 15 minutes left, as captain John-Lewis provided a glimmer of hope for Webb’s side.

A long ball onto the head of Duku was flicked on into the path of John-Lewis, who expertly brought the ball down before poking the ball past the outstretched Andre Jr to bring the deficit to one.

With the help of the inspiration from John-Lewis’ goal, York looked to draw the scores level in spirited fashion, as Forde nicked the ball off of a laggy Maidenhead defender but had multiple crosses dealt with in brilliant fashion by the Magpies defence.

But with no late comeback on the cards and a hugely underwhelming performance from City being a deciding factor, Webb’s side fell to back-to-back defeats in what was a massive match for York.

York City: Whitley 5, Fallowfield 5, Kerr 6, Crookes 5, Hancox 6, Tanner 6 (McLaughlin, 82), Pybus 6 (Duku 7, 66), Dyson 6, Thomas 6, John-Lewis 8, Forde 6

Subs not used: Kouogun, Hurst, Campbell

Goals: Lenell John-Lewis (76)

Yellow cards: Forde (30)

Maidenhead United: Andre Jr, Asare, Beckwith, Clerima, De Havilland, Kpeweka, Adams, Ferdinand, Nathaniel-George, Acquah, Smith

Subs not used: Barratt, McCoulsky, Sparkes, Upward, Massey

Goals: Nathaniel-George (38), Adams (60)

Yellow cards: Asare (18)

York’s star man: Lenell John-Lewis. An impressive display from the captain who tried his best to earn something from the game for York, with a well-taken goal and coming very close to adding to his tally.

Attendance: 4155

Shots (on target): 9 (3) | 7 (5)

Corners: 2 | 2

Offsides: 1 | 0

Fouls committed: 18 | 8