York City 0 Port Vale 2: York have ‘seven finals’ to secure their survival

The Minstermen have gone 14 matches without a win, their last success being over Burton Albion on New Year’s Day, a run which has taken them to 19th, one point above the dreaded rop zone.

Worthington said: “From minute one to minute 90, we were simply not good enough. It was men against boys out there and now we need to know about the players’ character and mental strength as we go into seven huge games, in effect seven cup finals

“Our decision-making was horrendous and I learned a lot today about certain players”.

York, promoted last May, have taken seven points from a possible 42 in this dismal spell and now just Torquay, Plymouth, Barnet, Aldershot and Accrington are one point below them.

It is of some comfort to know that Accrington and Plymouth have still to visit Bootham Crescent.

Immediate relegation would be catastrophic as York would lose £750,000 in Football League funding, while it might also raise the question of whether the McGill family, the club’s owners, would be able to continue funding annual losses of some £400,000 – an awful thought for York’s fans.

Port Vale took a seventh-minute lead through Jennison Myre-Williams and only two fine saves by Michael Ingham, one of them a penalty, prevented further goals by the same player.

Lee Hughes added the second soon after the break and York never looked like reducing the gap.

York City: Ingham; Parslow, O’Connell, Smith, Fyfield ( McLaughlin 77); Chambers (Blair 61), Kerr, McGrath, Carson; Walker, (Reed 46), Rankine. Unused substitutes: Jameson, McDaid, Potts, Doig.

Port Vale: Neal; Yates, Chilvers, McCombe, Taylor; Dodds (Shuker 87), Griffiths, Birchall, Myre-Williams (Andrew 86), Hughes (Williamson 77), Pope. Unused substitutes: Davies, Lloyd, Boot.

Referee: A Haines (Sunderland).

Man of the match: Michael Ingham.