YORK City boss Neal Ardley believes that his side lacked quality as they salvaged a 1-1 draw at Boreham Wood yesterday afternoon - but praised their team spirit from fighting back to level the scores after falling behind.

Defender Adam Crookes struck in the final minute of added time to rescue a point for the Minstermen in front of the TNT Sports cameras at Meadow Park after Chris Bush’s spectacular 35-yard lob had seen the hosts break the deadlock late on.

Chances were restricted for both sides on a bitterly cold afternoon in Hertfordshire, though City’s newest recruit, striker Billy Chadwick, was unlucky not to open his York account after seeing the majority of them fall his way.

A swirling wind did also not help matters for the Minstermen, and Ardley admits that his side were tested by Boreham Wood’s possession-based football and attacking threat.

“Quality-wise, I thought that we lacked,” he conceded. “I thought that our hold-up play at the top of the pitch was poor, and I thought that their centre-forwards gave our centre-halves a really tough game.

“And because of the wind and the way that they like to put it on you territorially, that’s what the game had to be about.

“That is exactly what we prepped for. We said to the lads ‘you’ve got to win the battles’, I thought at both ends.

“We had a tough time at our back end, we had to put our bodies on the line, but it was too easy for them to build off their forwards.

“And I thought that at our end, we turned the ball over far too often, sometimes by not using our bodies well enough and sometimes through poor play.

“But the work ethic and the team spirit is there and to go behind to an unfortunate goal from long range after we thought that we’d done enough to keep the clean sheet and the way that the boys reacted with the goal was brilliant.”

York Press: City's never say die attitude was typified with an equaliser in the final minute of added time.City's never say die attitude was typified with an equaliser in the final minute of added time. (Image: Tom Poole)

The sides played out a sixth consecutive draw in this fixture - and a second of the season after September's 2-2 stalemate in North Yorkshire - but Ardley feels as though that was a fair result on the balance of play.

"Boreham Wood, probably on territorial advantage, were the most likely to win the game," he admitted. "But I don't think that they did enough to win it, and I don't think that we did enough.

"But I'm pleased with the team spirit and a little disappointed with the lack of quality, but the conditions were tough and I don't think that we managed the first half.

"I said to them 'the wind's coming down the pitch, they're going to territorially put it on you and you've got to manage and run in behind, you've got to stretch the game and try and take it to their final third'.

"I don't think that we did any of that."