York City 3 Altrincham 0: Rankine sets the benchmark

Although York had pressed for long periods, they lacked a cutting edge against the Altrincham part-timers, but when Rankine replaced Chris Carruthers to make a three-pronged attack it produced a dramatic change.

Rankine's run and fierce low shot in the 70th minute, after being set up by Michael Gash and Alex Lawless broke the deadlock.

Richard Brodie scored his first goal of the season from the penalty spot, courtesy of a silly challenge by Marc Joseph when the striker was running toward the corner, and Brodie provided the pass for Rankine to extend York's lead.

Foyle brought in new signing Peter Till on the right in place of Jonathan Smith and this brought much needed width to the York attack with Till posing problems with his speedy runs.

The first half had seen Gash shooting over, Brodie having a shot charged down and Lawless hitting the bar. Michael Ingham was troubled only once, palming away Matty Crowell's fierce 30-yard shot.

York had much the better of the second half and could have had an even more convincing win.

York City: Ingham; Parslow, McGurk, Sangare, Meredith; Till (Smith 82), Lawless, Barrett, Carruthers (Rankine 58); Brodie, Gash. Unused substitutes: Courtney, Young, McDermott.

Altrincham: Coburn; Joseph, Williams, Smith, Welch (Twiss 76), Brown; Densmore, Danylyk (McCready 81), Crowell; Reeves (Johnson 63), Holsgrove. Unused substitutes: Holmes, Coates.

Referee: R Clark (Morpeth).

Man of the match: Alex Lawless.