NEAL ARDLEY commended the spirit of his York City squad after a stoppage-time winner secured all three points in a 2-1 victory over Oxford City, but was frustrated with the Minstermen's second-half performance.

York maintained their love of late goals with Will Davies’ stoppage-time winner over Oxford, cancelling out Aaron Bushell-Williams’ earlier equaliser after Dipo Akinyemi had put the Minstermen ahead.

The victory extended City’s winning run to eight matches in the Vanarama National League and put Ardley’s side six points clear of the relegation zone, as York completed the double over a team for the first time this campaign.

Ardley was pleased at the collective efforts of his team, but was frustrated at a lack of game management within the City camp, and felt that the second-half didn’t match the standard of the first forty-five.

“I think it’s a sign of a team that never gives up, it’s a sign of a team with real character that goes right until the very end, and I think it’s a sign of a team whose fitness levels have improved as the season has gone on,” Ardley enthused after the full-time whistle.

“I can’t fault that part, but there are issues that I get frustrated at as a manager.

“At half-time I knew that they would change something, we talked about if they were going to have three up because they can’t have done the same things that they had in the first-half.

“I thought we controlled the first-half, but I was disappointed because even up until we scored that first goal, I thought that we should have come in two or three up at half-time.

“I said to the lads that I don’t think that you’re brave enough or aggressive enough in your play, and that we could have had this game out of sight.

“I knew that they had good subs, Zac McEachran is an excellent player and Josh Ashby too, they are two players that I admire.

“I knew that they would bring them on to try and change the game, and they did, they brought Zac on straight away and we didn’t adapt.

“They changed their shape and pressed us higher and we spent 20 minutes all over the shop.

“We’re trying to shout information from the sides but I’ve just said to the players there that their game management needs to be better.

“When we’re on top in a game, the opposition are going to try and do something different, and the fact that we don’t adapt at times isn’t good enough.”

Ardley also vented his frustrations at conceding to Oxford after York struggled to adapt to the hosts change of system, with the City boss disappointed that his side failed to handle the impact of McEachran from the bench.

“It was frustrating, but it was coming. They had a couple of moments and then all of a sudden you’re thinking that they’re going to get in here, again it’s game management of people not talking and then the game starts to get stretched.

“Zac McEachran is a very, very talented player and we’re giving him the freedom of the pitch.

“They had him roaming around and nobody is stopping the problem, we’re screaming from the side trying to get information off.

“We set-up for them to play three different systems, and one of them was what they started the second-half with.

“We worked on the training pitch on Monday so that we would know how to play against that system, but the brain scrambles when the anxiety comes and the pressure kicks in.

“As a team we forget that, and that’s the bit that made the game become open.

“We thought that there was only one team that was on top of the game, so we made a sub and went to a back four and changed it around a bit.

“I then thought that all of a sudden it became us, and in the last 15 minutes I thought that it was us that were most likely to win.

“I’m pleased from the staff’s point of view that we made that call, and I’m pleased from the players point of view that we finished the game really strongly.”