Mills happy as York keep Town at bay

Cheltenham lost to Crewe in the League Two play-off final in May and on this showing are again going to be a force to be reckoned with, so York may have been happy to take a point against such formidable opposition.

The visitors were denied a goal in the 11th minute when Michael Ingham made a superb point- blank save from Shaun Harrod, Jamal Fyfield then blocking Russell Penn’s follow-up shot on the line.

In the second half, substitute Kaid Mohamed, who had only come on the pitch a minute earlier, saw his fierce 74th-minute shot apparently come back off the underside of the bar, although York manager Gary Mills confessed later was that his first reaction was the ball had gone in and come back off the stanchion.

Lee Bullock forced a fine save from Cheltenham goalkeeper Scott Brown on 70 minutes but York, despite a lot of hard work, found it difficult to create opportunities.

Left-back Fyfield, given a torrid time by the elusive Jarmaine McGlashan in the first half, recovered well to have the better of the second-half exchanges, while Jason Walker covered an enormous amount of ground as a lone central striker.

The promising John McReady dislocated his shoulder after an 11-minute substitute appearance.

Mills said: “I was delighted with our first clean sheet.

“Although I was disappointed that we didn’t win, we have taken 10 points from our first eight games at the higher level and that is a pleasing start.”

York City: Ingham; Oyebanjo, C Smith (Bullock 45), Doig, Fyfield; Parslow, J Smith (McReady 64, Blair 74), McLaughlin; Coulson, Walker, Chambers. Unused substitutes: Musselwhite, Johnson, Challinor, Taylor.

Cheltenham Town: Brown; Jombati, Elliott, Bennett, Jones; Carter (Deering 78), Pack, Penn, McGlashan (Goulding 84), Harrod (Mohamed 73), Zebroski. Unused substitutes: Lowe, Hooman, Duffy, Roberts.

Referee: S Mathieson (Stockport).

Man of the Match: Jason Walker.