Ardley: York City 'didn't deserve to lose' to Dorking wonder-goal

With the help of the crossbar, Tom Blair's thunderous long-range stunner settled the twice-rearranged match six minutes from time, propelling Dorking out of the Vanarama National League relegation places and level on points with the Minstermen.

York shaded the early chances, with Finlay Barnes close to marking his first start with a goal less than 30 seconds into proceedings, before both Billy Chadwick and Dipo Akinyemi forced Harrison Male into routine saves.

Will Davies' introduction on the hour brought with it a brief spark for City as the former Braintree Town forward saw his strike cannon off the right-hand post shortly after the hour, but they were ultimately made to pay for their lack of quality in front of goal.

But whilst Ardley believes that his side did not produce enough to keep the three points in North Yorkshire, he felt that they certainly did not deserve to leave empty handed.

"Did we play lovely free-flowing football outside the first 20 minutes? No." conceded the City boss, who spent 20 minutes with his players in the dressing room after the final whistle.

"I think the game became tense. There was anxiety because you're playing a team down there.

"I don't think we did enough in our attacking sense, but did we deserve to lose the game? Absolutely not. They've had one header from a free kick and one 35-yard shot.

"In the first few minutes, we've had chances to score. I think Billy should score, I think Will Davies should score."

It was a disappointing evening for the Minstermen in front of goal. (Image: Tom Poole)

He acknowledged that the result would likely cause frustration among supporters, but feels as though if his side had converted their chances to earn back-to-back wins for the first time this season, they may well have been singing a different tune.

"I know everyone is going to be angry and there'll be comments made," Ardley admitted. "I get all that, the result does that to you.

"But if Will Davies scores when he should and doesn't hit the post, we win 1-0 and everybody comes home and goes 'okay, we've dug out a win, it wasn't pretty but great resilience.' Instead, it's the opposite, 'the world's going to collapse, it's dreadful.'

"It's hard because I can't let the result affect what I'm going to say, which is that we didn't deserve to lose the game.

"Did we do enough to win it? I think if our forwards were in form and really sparkling, I think we win the game. But they weren't.

"We created moments, we created chances. Billy should score, Will should score, and in the end we've got done by an absolute worldie."