MICHAEL MORTON has heaped praise on debutant Dipo Akinyemi, after the forward opened his account for York City in the 2-1 defeat to Wealdstone.

York began their Vanarama National League in the capitol, but an underwhelming second-half performance saw Akinyemi's first-half opener cancelled out.

Morton was quick to praise the striker after joining from Ayr United in the Summer, claiming he was a 'handful' for opposition defenders.

“You can see that he’s a handful." Morton enthused about the tricky attacker.

"He’s still got a lot to do in terms of his physical stuff, and he’ll agree, even just those ones in the first half where he gets himself into really good areas to finish but he might be a little bit fatigued getting there, so he doesn’t sort his feet out to score.

"He’ll tell you that and the main thing is that he looks a threat, he’s a good all-round forward as well.

"I wouldn’t say he’s great in the air but he is good in the air, he’s quick, he can play left foot and right foot, I just love his attitude to try and score.

"We need more people like that and more people who want to go out and impact that goal out there.

“He moves well, I am excited to see where he gets to when he is fit.

"He’s probably at 60 per cent, you can see it when he was flagging at the end.

"We’ve just got to get good minutes in him now and get him back on the training pitch to work on some stuff.

"In a couple of weeks he’ll be in good condition."

Morton also took time to praise fellow-debutant Levi Andoh, who was a surprise inclusion on the team sheet after recovering from an injury sustained during pre-season. 

Andoh played a pivotal role in York's opener, helping cut back the ball to John-Lewis before Akinyemi delicately curled the ball home. 

Morton also provided an update on goalkeeper David Stockdale, who appeared to have picked up a knock, and how his squad could look moving into City's home league opener against Kidderminster Harriers on Saturday, August 12 (3pm).

“He was excellent in the first half, I felt he was a threat going forward, but again you can see that he wasn’t conditioned right.

"He’s so quick and he can cover ground so sharply, you can see when he made a run that he was a little bit fatigued. 

"He’s been really good in training, I thought it was an excellent goal when he got down that side and by the six-yard box, which we were delighted with. 

"He has a little bit to learn with the defensive side and not gambling, I felt he gambled quite a bit down this side and one or two didn’t come off when they held their line. 

"You can’t do that at this level, so he’s got something to work on.

“I think he [Stockdale] was just experiencing it and was trying to weather the storm a little bit. 

"It was the same with us, we got a foothold in the game and we were dominating the game, so when they were on top it was just a case of trying to slow the game down a little bit.

“I think we should near enough have full selection for next week, which will be exciting. 

"Like I said to the lads, the team that we selected today won’t be the same team in three or four weeks. 

"Unless everybody wins in their individual performances and we don’t have any injuries, obviously there’s one change already with Cal [Callum Howe] getting sent off, so we’re going to have to look at that which is a shame.

"But I think everybody else will be ready to go."