Malachi Fagan-Walcott credits York City character in win at Hartlepool

The right-sided centre-back of Stuart Maynard’s back three once again stood out for York, keeping Hartlepool at bay on his side in another dominant performance from the 23-year-old.

He played his part as City took an early lead through Alex Newby, before Ben Brookes doubled that advantage late on when tucking home Ollie Banks’ cross.

Dreams of a clean sheet were vanquished when Vadaine Oliver swept the ball home from inside the area, but Fagan-Walcott and his teammates were able to hold on for a 2-1 win at Hartlepool.

Fagan-Walcott felt the result was more important than the performance after the disappointment of Wednesday’s 3-1 defeat to Scunthorpe United, believing it will be a positive for the team morale to add another three points to City’s tally.

The centre-back also thought that the scoreline could have been more comfortable, but was nonetheless pleased to hold on for an important win.

“That’s what we wanted, three points after the last result was key,” Fagan-Walcott assured.

“Whether the performance was good or bad, we just needed to get a bit of team morale going, to get the three points and to give that to the fans.

“That’s all we wanted. If we took our chances, we win that comfortably.

“Sometimes you have to fight when the game is not in your favour, you have to fight, ride the storm and overall we were good on the ball, but just as good off of the ball.”

After Brookes had doubled City’s lead in the second-half, Oliver’s quickfire response prompted some late pressure from Hartlepool, which tested the York backline.

Fagan-Walcott admitted that the nerves were never really a concern for him, crediting his defensive teammates and the mentality of the squad to bounce back in the way that they did.

The 23-year-old admitted: “I wasn’t really nervous, I just wanted the whistle to go.

“I think that after that one [Hartlepool’s goal], they started to apply a lot more pressure.

“We can catch them on the break, that’s what I think, they’re not going to get past me so let’s catch them on the break.

“H [Harrison Male] made a good few saves, so credit to him, Ash [Palmer] was superb and Kitch [Mark Kitching] was superb.

“Overall, it was a good performance.

“I think it’s just the mentality in there, we know as a group that last game wasn’t good enough and we can’t perform like that twice on the spin –we shouldn’t perform like that anyway.

“When it happened, we’ve got to find the clues within ourselves and we owe it to the fans as well.

“We had to bounce back, I think that’s the mentality within the group and you can see it from last season and this season.

“No matter who we’ve brought in or let go, you just seem to get it because we all make sure that if we play like that, then we have to bounce back.”

Fagan-Walcott has played in three different roles so far this season, operating at right-back, at right-centre-back in a back four, and right-centre-back in a back three.

It’s brought different challenges for Fagan-Walcott, but he has risen to the occasion each time, which he credited to both current manager Maynard, and former boss Adam Hinshelwood.

He now feels that his versatility will put him in good stead moving forward, admitting that he has been enjoying his role in Maynard’s style.

“It’s been quite good,” he commented, “with Hinsh, I was some days in the centre and some days at right-back, so when we do [the back three], I’m kind of both in one.

“Hinsh kind of prepared me for the runs in behind, and it’s just worked out like that.

“Now it’s perfect because I’ve done a pre-season where I thought I was going to be right-back, I’ve got the work into my legs, now we’ve gone into a three and I’ve got to go back and forth.

“I quite like it. Being versatile and being able to play in different positions, sometimes that gets you into a team.

“Knowing that I can play in different positions and that I feel comfortable in different positions, when I play there I have the license to be free and be myself.”