ADAM Hinshelwood cut a frustrated figure after confessing that York City’s performance was ‘poor’ in a drab 1-1 draw with Woking on Bank Holiday Monday.
York were hoping to benefit from a free Saturday by piling the misery on to a Woking team that had lost every match prior to their clash with City, but were instead left disappointed when failing to claim a third win of the campaign.
The Minstermen do remain unbeaten from their four Enterprise National League matches, but have found it difficult at times to break opponents down, having to wait until late on in their 2-0 triumph at Truro City, failing to do so in midweek against Southend United, and struggling when taking on a Woking side that have looked leaky as of late.
Hinshelwood shared supporters frustrations with the performance in Surrey, demanding more from his players as they prepare for a 12 day period with no match.
“It’s not many times I’ve come on here and have talked about how poor we were to watch - but that was today,” Hinshelwood berated.
“Again, there final third, crosses, not even working their back line with unopposed crosses.
“All we can do is get to the drawing board and keep working, that’s going to be our challenge.
“We’ve got a bit of a break now, so how I see us getting through this is by getting on the training ground and getting practice in, getting better, there’s lots of practice needed.
“A deflection and a cross-come-shot that goes in. I think Banksy had a shot that had a bit of venom on it which causes their ‘keeper to make a save, but then other than that, it’s just not what you want to see.
“No intensity was there, it was a massive keep ball session with no intensity in the final third.
“We definitely lacked that quality, but the players aren’t going out there on purpose to cross them behind the goal, miss chances, so we’ve got to keep pushing and keep working on it.
“I hope they are hurting as much as I am, and are disappointed for all of the fans that came and had to watch that.”
York’s only notable opportunity of the first-half fell to Alex Newby, who stung the gloves of goalkeeper Tom Norcott after Josh Stones had played the winger into space.
Other than Newby’s opportunity, a pedestrian-looking City side headed into the break behind after right-back Aaron Drewe had bombed forward, and his strike had deflected past Harrison Male.
Hinshelwood therefore felt the need to berate his players during the half-time break, a stance he admitted to have already taken on multiple occasions this campaign.
It worked when shortly after Newby’s cross nestled into Norcott’s net, but York were unable to find that needed goal to take the three points back to North Yorkshire.
Hinshelwood vented; “If you have to keep getting into them at half-time, then sooner or later, that’s going to lose its worth.
“We shouldn’t have to come here, have that kind of following, and have to get them playing at half-time.
“I’m disappointed with that, but every one of them is going to take responsibility, no one is hiding.
“It wasn’t good enough, but it’s another point on the road and we’re ticking off these games.
“I’m obviously disappointed with the goal that we conceded, because that was a goal from last year where we were too open and exposed, and them just flicking the ball around the corner and no one taking responsibility.
“It’s too loose, it’s a misplaced pass by five yards and we get punished.
“[From] set-pieces, we didn’t look a threat really, and just all of our game.
“There was lots of passing in front of them where players weren’t prepared to receive it in tight areas, because none of them want to drop short, and ‘look how good I am with no pressure’.
“We need to change that.”
Woking had started their season in a troubling fashion, having lost every National League match prior to York’s visit to the Laithwaite Community Stadium.
Managed by former City gaffer Neal Ardley, Hinshelwood never had any doubt that the hosts would show something of a reaction, but was instead disappointed that his players failed to handle that urgency from Woking.
“That’s dangerous though because you know what this league is like, when a team goes three games defeated, they’ve got to turn it around sooner or later in this league.
“They’ve got a good coaching staff, you know it’s going to be tough and he’s coming up against his old team.
“He’s got a point to prove, and you’ve got to overcome all of that and go out and deliver.
“I’m not going to be disrespectful to the opposition or the teams we come up against, they’re a good team and it’s a tough league.
“There’s 46 games in this league, and each team on their day can turn up and hurt you.
“We were careless and they punished us with a goal, that’s what can happen.
“They need that little bit of luck to change for them and I was a bit wary of that, I never like teams down there, especially after playing Saturday, you can look too much into it.
“You can’t do that at any level of football, you’ve got to stay humble, stay hard working and show up with more quality than we did today.”
526 York supporters made the long trip down to Surrey, which was their third away match in the space of nine days, having also trekked to Truro and Southend previously.
Hinshelwood shared their disappointment with both the performance and the result at Woking, saying: “We’ve come a long way and I get their frustration, that’s the expectation that we’ve built in the time that we’ve been here.
“It was a good point here last year, and now for some it looks like doom and gloom.
“We’re at a big club and the expectation has gone through the roof, that might be from the bookies making us favourite.
“I don’t try to worry about that, we’ve just got to go to Yeovil and be better than we was today, that’s all that we’re going to focus on.
“All the other noise we take in the chin, we expect it, they’ve spent their hard-earned money to come a long way and have been disappointed with the performance.
“Us as a group, as staff and players, we share their disappointment.
“All we can do is get on the training field, we won’t have as many days off now, we’ve got to get back on the training field and work hard.”
