DRAINED, but delighted York City manager Gary Mills said trust and togetherness were the key elements if the play-off dream was to be captured.

The 2-1 triumph over Newport County with goals from Michael Rankine and Jamie Reed combined with draws for Kidderminster and Wrexham fired the Minstermen right back into the play-off mix.

Before the visit of the Welsh outfit Mills had targeted six more victories. It’s one down and five to go with the next club up being his former employers Tamworth at Bootham Crescent on Saturday.

Said Mills: “I feel drained by this result. But there’s another week to go before the next game against Tamworth, and so we will be ready for it.

“After we missed out on winning against Crawley it was vital we beat Newport, who are a very strong physical team and who give everything.

“We had to be at our strongest and there were some big performances out there.

“But we have trust. We have trust in ourselves and trust in that we are in this together.”

Mills revealed that, after a scratchy first-half in which City’s attacking threat evaporated with the final pass or cross, there were no dressing-room volleys at half-time.

“The message I put across was that we stick together, that we trust each other.

“We have trusted each other since I have been here and we want to keep that trust going right through the rest of our season.

“That togetherness, that trust, that spirit got us through the second half and now we go on.

“It’s Tamworth next and while I was proud of what I did there, I have no sentiment about that. I am here to do a job for York City and our aim is to beat them next week and get another three points because that’s what we need.”

Again delighted by the response of the Crescent faithful, whom he wants to show the same fervour for the upcoming brace of home outings, the City manager was thrilled by the guts shown by leading marksman Rankine in taking the penalty to fire City ahead on Saturday.

Just a week earlier, the striker missed a spot-kick that could have yielded three points instead of one at Kettering.

“That showed a lot of character and Ranks has never let me down,” said Mills.

He also praised goalkeeper Michael Ingham, midfield anchorman Scott Kerr and captain Chris Smith.

“The back four were immense and Michael Ingham made great saves when he needed to. He is the best ‘keeper in this league in my opinion.

“Kerr has made a massive difference to the team since he arrived. He’s a clever player and he knows the game.

“But for me Smith epitomised how much we want to get into the top five. We always want to keep clean sheets and while we did not with that late goal I just could not fault the back line.”

The only defensive headache for City was centre-back David McGurk twisting his ankle in stoppage time leading him to be carried off on a stretcher.

“We should know later on whether it might be a week or two or three weeks out, but I understand it might not be as bad as we first feared.”

• CRAWLEY Town were crowned Blue Square Bet Premier champions after beating City’s next opponents Tamworth 3-0.

And the first of the four relegation spots was filled by Histon after they lost 2-0 at Gateshead.