Muggleton delighted to throw York City a lifeline in survival fight

Wembley finalists York City have unearthed a new weapon intheir fight to beat the drop from the National league. Richard Sutcliffe reports.
Victory: Jon Parkin celebrates with Amari Morgan-Smith after making it 5-3 from Sam Muggletons long throw. (Picture: Bruce Rollinson)Victory: Jon Parkin celebrates with Amari Morgan-Smith after making it 5-3 from Sam Muggletons long throw. (Picture: Bruce Rollinson)
Victory: Jon Parkin celebrates with Amari Morgan-Smith after making it 5-3 from Sam Muggletons long throw. (Picture: Bruce Rollinson)

AFTER announcing himself to York City supporters with an exocet missile of a throw-in that helped seal a precious three points, Sam Muggleton plans to tap into dad Carl’s knowledge of relegation scraps to help keep the club up.

The Minstermen ran out 5-3 winners on Tuesday night in a hugely entertaining game with National League bottom club Southport.

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Defeat, a distinct possibility when Gary Mills’s men trailed 3-1 just before the interval, would have left York eight points from safety and surely destined for the drop.

As it is, a second win in the club’s last three league outings means a great escape is well and truly on for York and Muggleton, signed from Eastleigh on Monday, is up for the challenge.

“My old man was in football so I know that when you are in a relegation battle it (a club) is not usually happy,” said the 21-year-old, son of former Stoke City goalkeeper Carl.

“But this place is buzzing. Getting to Wembley (in the FA Trophy) is clearly helping the players massively. This is probably the happiest club I have seen, as happy as the team at Barnet was when we won the league (in 2015).

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“Dad had a couple of relegation battles in his career. I remember one at Chesterfield. He just said: ‘Get your head down and do what you have to do’.

“My confidence was hit by what happened at Eastleigh, they didn’t want me. But he said to come up to York, do what I am good at and stick at it.”

Muggleton senior played for 17 clubs during a career spanning 24 years. Included in that tally were loan spells at Rotherham, Sheffield United and Bradford City so Leicester-born Sam’s arrival in Yorkshire on a short-term deal at the start of this week means he is back on familiar ground.

His debut in a York shirt came just after the hour on Tuesday and with Jon Parkin having just brought the hosts level at 3-3.

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Mills’s thinking was to utilise the long throw that has been a big feature of a career that has largely seen the left-sided player follow Martin Allen from club to club.

Even the City manager must have been surprised by the phenomenal 40 or so yard distance Muggleton achieved with the throw that ended with Parkin flicking a header beyond Craig King to seal the 5-3 victory.

“My long-throw is something which means I am used to coming on to try and change a game,” added the new arrival.

“I sling it in the box and try to create a few chances. Fortunately for me, one of them worked and Jon got the goal. If you hit him, he will always win the header so I did what I had to do.

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“Martin Allen always liked what I had because the long throw creates problems. It is a massive part of my career and always will be.

“I have not had the distance measured – and I have thrown them longer than that in the past. It was a bit wet against Southport so that didn’t help. I can throw further.

“It would have been good to have a towel but there wasn’t one there. I don’t work on it, it is just natural.

“I wasn’t into athletics, the javelin or anything like that at school. When at Leicester (as a schoolboy), I never used it. I was playing Sunday League once and, I don’t know what made me do it, but I had a go at a throw-in and the ball went miles.

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“I am not sure if it is down to having a flexible back or shoulders. I get compared to Rory Delap all the time but I didn’t study him or anything like that. It is not like I wanted to make a career out of it. But the throw is good to have.”