DELIGHTED assistant coach Joao Alves credited York City’s all-round performance as their 4-0 hammering of Gateshead brought fireworks to the LNER Community Stadium.
The Minstermen delivered one of their best performances of the season on their return to National League action following their spirited FA Cup defeat at Barnsley in what was a mostly one-sided affair on their own patch.
It took just 11 minutes for Josh Stones to give City the lead, with Joe Felix and Alex Hunt putting them three goals to the good inside the opening half-hour.
Ollie Pearce then headed home York’s fourth in second-half injury time before missing a penalty at the death in what was the only downside to a fantastic Bonfire Night evening under the lights.
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Knowing Gateshead had started games well on their travels, Alves was pleased to see City race out of the blocks to establish a dominant lead early on – and they never looked likely to lose their grip on the three points.
“We knew they started really fast,” he explained. “I think they’ve scored five goals away in the first 15 minutes, and we know that we’ve conceded a few goals early.
“We wanted to make sure that we started fast ourselves and we did that so that was really pleasing.
“It was an all-round really good performance. It’s a credit to our lads because they carried out the game plan really well.
“There were some people who came into the team that did really well, so we’ve learned and gained some more trust in some players, which is brilliant.
“It was a good night.”
The opening half was one of the best 45 minutes played under Stuart Maynard so far, with the Minstermen dominant across the pitch.
Former Derby and Norwich midfielder Jacob Butterfield skewed an effort wide at 0-0, but it took until the 44th minute for Gateshead to register their first shot on target, Kyle Hurst drawing a routine save out of Harrison Male with a strike from the edge of the box.
Alves continued: “It was good. It’s tough to pick between this and maybe some others [for the best 45 minutes under Maynard].
“It was really pleasing that we kept them at bay and didn’t give much away. We had our own chances, but the most important thing for us at the moment is to make sure that – we know we will create chances – we keep it tight.”
Whilst York had all but wrapped up victory with three goals in the opening 29 minutes, that margin could easily have been four or five by half time.
Tiernan Brooks was in fine form to twice deny Stones one-on-one when the striker looked sure to score a certain goal, whilst Malachi Fagan-Walcott, Callum Howe, Hunt and Pearce also forced saves out of the Gateshead shot-stopper before the whistle.
“It’s a good place to be,” Alves admitted. “Obviously, we want to make sure that we keep creating the chances and think that we’re going to score enough of them if we keep being in the positions that we want to be in.
“It’s really pleasing the manner that we scored the goals in because that’s something that we work on a lot, but the other big thing for us is making sure that we don’t get hit on the counters, which I didn’t think that we did.
“I think we managed the game with the ball really well, and I thought that when we did need to take a step back and let them have it for a little bit, we did do that in a pretty adult manner.
“Overall, it was really, really pleasing.”
