York City manager Martin Foyle congratulated top scorer Richard Brodie for making club history with his 20th goal of the season.

Brodie netted in Saturday’s 2-1 home victory over Wrexham to become the first man to reach 20 goals by the first week in December, beating 1950s legend Arthur Bottom’s record by six days.

The former Newcastle Benfield striker pounced to head in after Chris Carruthers had earlier opened the scoring with his first goal for the Minstermen.

Midfielder Andy Fleming replied for Wrexham, but his 82nd-minute effort only proved a consolation.

On Brodie’s achievement, Foyle said: “It’s fantastic because it’s not an easy job scoring goals and the boy deserves a lot of credit.”

Echoing chairman Jason McGill’s recent comments regarding Football League clubs’ interest in Brodie, Foyle also insisted no clubs had inquired about his availability in the transfer window.

He said: “I’ve heard absolutely nothing and, if I do, Brodes would be the first to know and I will be the first to congratulate him if he gets a big move, but he is a York City player until anything else happens.”

City’s victory also saw Foyle’s team equal a club record of eight consecutive wins and the Bootham Crescent boss attributed all the praise for that feat to his players, saying: “It’s nice for the club to get a bit of recognition. Sometimes you hear too much about the past at whatever club you work for, whether its the 1950s, 1960s or 1970s, but this is 2009/10 and the players deserve the credit because they are performing well.”

Before Saturday’s match, Brodie received the Blue Square Premier Player of the Month award and fellow forward Michael Rankine was presented with The Press Player of the Month prize, but Foyle revealed that Saturday’s opening marksman Carruthers would have been his choice.

He said: “Chris has been outstanding. He’s worked very hard down the left side and it’s good to see his name on the scoresheet.

“It was a well-worked goal with Michael Rankine brushing off his defender as he has been doing and putting in a great cross.”

City will now take a two-week break from league action, sitting in third place with a seven-point advantage over AFC Wimbledon, who lie one position outside the play-off zone.

About the importance of that cushion, Foyle said: “It was a fantastic three points in an important game because of the two-week break. We struggled at times but defended well and they didn’t create much despite putting us under pressure.”

Foyle also defended his side against criticism of the single-goal margin of victory in each of the last eight matches.

He added: “You have to win games like we did (on Saturday). People thinking you can win every match 2-0 or 3-0 need to wake up because every game I see in this division is very close.

“Earlier in the season, we played some outstanding football but sometimes you have to change your game a bit on more difficult pitches. Defenders are paid to defend and we have four midfielders playing tight together.

“Maybe we need to look at opening up in the next home game, but you also need discipline and to keep your shape and why would I want to drop anybody from this side at the moment?”

Foyle might, however, decide to rest players for Saturday’s FA Trophy trip to Hinckley United in order to avoid suspensions in league matches with the five-booking threshold for a one-game ban expiring on December 31.

Midfielder Neil Barrett has been shown four yellow cards, while David McGurk, Levi Mackin and Carruthers, also booked during a loan spell with Crawley, are on three cautions.

On-loan centre-back Luke Graham might be missing too, having returned to Mansfield today with Foyle adding: “I’m trying to thrash something out, but it might be a no-go.”

Foyle will, therefore, run the rule over several candidates for a starting place on Saturday in a behind-closed-doors friendly against Darlington on Wednesday.

The City boss thanked the club’s supporters after a turnout of 3,006 on the last home game before Christmas.

He said: “We’ve hit the magical 3,000 mark. The chairman budgeted for 2,500 in the summer and, at the start of the season, we dipped under that but we have crept over a few times now and, hopefully, we can get 4,500 against Mansfield on Boxing Day.”