YORK City manager Martin Foyle admitted he felt “horrible” for the last ten minutes of his side’s nail-biting FA Cup third round victory at Cambridge United.

The Minstermen had taken a 2-0 lead into the break thanks to a spectacular Michael Rankine strike and Richard Brodie’s fifth penalty of the season.

But the home side dominated the second period, with Michael Ingham’s penalty box coming under intense pressure after Anthony Tonkin’s 83rd-minute reply.

City held on, however, with a relieved Foyle, pictured, applauding his side’s defensive efforts.

He said: “We had a shaky first 20 minutes when they caused us problems, but we got an absolute wonder goal from Michael Rankine that turned the game.

“We then got a second but they had come back from 2-0 down in their last two games and, to be honest, they probably deserved an equaliser at the end.

horrible on the bench. I’d rather be out there playing as you’re so isolated but we got the win and made the next round. You have to defend and the two centre halves (David McGurk and Luke Graham) were outstanding heading balls away.

“James Meredith and Daniel Parslow also covered well and Michael Ingham pulled off some good saves and couldn’t do anything about their goal.”

Rankine’s goal was his sixth of the season and third in four games with Foyle confident that the 24-year-old forward will go on to get another crack at the Football League after his previous stints with Scunthorpe and on loan at Bournemouth last season.

The City chief said: “A lot of people wrote him off at Rushden but I felt he had something about him and just needed an arm around him and a bit of coaching. Now, I think he could be heading for the Football League.”

Peterborough scouts were also watching Rankine’s striking partner Brodie at Saturday’s game but Foyle is hoping reaching the third round, which saw the club pocket another £27,000, will mean the club can strengthen their squad rather than cash in on their assets in the transfer window.

He added: “I’m pleased for the chairman. He has put his money in and hopefully this will help him back us a bit more to go on a promotion bid in the New Year.”

Foyle also praised a strong travelling army of City fans, saying: “The crowd were hysterical and they deserve to be. There has been a lot of doom and gloom since the club dropped out of the Football League but, hopefully, this is a bit of payback for them.”