York City 0 Aldershot Town 0: Minstermen are sorely missing their wide boys

York began the season well and were seventh in the table in September but they have since lost both their wide strikers, Michael Coulson and Ashley Chambers, because of long-term injuries and are finding goals difficult to come by, dropping to 15th, albeit only six points off the play-offs.

The Minstermen were seeking their first double for the season, having won 2-0 at Aldershot on September 29, but they never looked like achieving their aim, only having three shots on target. Aldershot managed only one in a poor game with little excitement.

Michael Potts came closest to scoring for York, Jamie Young saving well and new signing Ben Everson, previously with the Icelandic team Breidablik, headed wide late on.

Aldershot have lost only one of their last nine away games and, with 10 points from their last four matches, have pulled away from the relegation zone after seemingly being marooned.

They gave York little time and space to create moves with the result that the home side passed sideways or backwards and then resorted to the long ball, tactics which Aldershot dealt with comfortably.

Minstermen’s manager Gary Mills, hoping to add to his strike force before the closure of the transfer window said: “We are definitely missing our wide men. It was never a great game but when you are not at your best it is important to keep a clean sheet and get something out of it and that’s what we did.”

York City: Ingham; Parslow, Smith, McGurk, Fyfield; Potts, McLaughlin (Oyebanjo 64); Blair, Walker, Reed (Everson 71). Unused substitutes: Musselwhite, Bullock, McReady, Challinor, Allan.

Aldershot Town: Young; Herd, Brown, Bradley, Tonkin; Cadogan (A Morris 90), Rose, Hector, Vincenti; Lopez (Rankine 78), Reid (Risser 88). Unused substitutes: McNamee, Mekki, G Morris, Cooksley.

Referee: T Kettle (Oakham).

Man of the match: Chris Smith.