Eastbourne Borough 2 York City 1: Minstermen again caught in blocks

Once again York's poor first half display was in stark contrast to the second – they have not scored before the interval in six home games this season – and until they solve this problem they will not mount a promotion challenge.

York miss the scoring power of Richard Brodie, now with Crawley after scoring 37 goals for the Minstermen in the last campaign. Michael Gash and Michael Rankine are not proven goal scorers, England C international Gash having found the net only once In the last 18 games.

The loss of Brodie, Ben Purkiss (Oxford) and Luke Graham (Kettering), plus the long-term injuries to Chris Carruthers and Levi Mackin has seriously weakened the team and caretaker manager Andy Porter has an unenviable task ahead as the replacements are not as good.

Alex Lawless was the only midfielder to play well and he marked his hard-working display by scoring in the 67th minute when York were 2-0 down.

They should have been in front as Neil Barrett and Leon Constantine missed glaring first-half chances.

Jamie Taylor's 26-yard shot (43) was unstoppable but Simon Johnson's 58th-minute header found goalkeeper Michael Ingham badly at fault.

"Why do we start so slowly after preparing so well?" pondered Porter afterwards.

Eastbourne Borough: Banks; Austin, Cook, Langston, Jenkins; Brinkhurst, Smart (Johnson, 19), Weatherstone, M Crabb; Pacquette (39), Taylor (Brown, 89). Unused substitutes: N Crabb, Mambo.

York City: Ingham; Parslow, McGurk, Young, Meredith; Till, Barrett (Smith 74), Lawless, Fyfield; Gash (Dowson, 59), Rankine (Constantine, 28). Unused substitutes: Knight, Courtney.

Referee: R Atkin.

Man of the match: Alex Lawless.