York City 2 Plymouth Argyle 0: Worthington: We’ve given ourselves a fighting chance

You need a lot of dedication to be a Plymouth supporter – not to mention a lot of diesel – and the Green Army yesterday undertook the sort of journey for which car insurance was invented: a 675-mile round trip on an Easter Monday.

The long trek back to Devon would have felt even longer following a defeat which deepened the visitors’ relegation fears and appreciably alleviated those of York, for whom this was a first victory in 17 matches.

Plymouth may be a long way from Bootham Crescent but York had reached the footballing equivalent of Land’s End after slipping to within four points of safety with five games to play, their Football League status hanging by a thread.

Although the Minstermen remain in the bottom two, they are now only one point behind third-bottom Plymouth and this result will only give them confidence.

First-half goals from Ashley Chambers and Richard Cresswell were reward for a spirited performance which also gave Nigel Worthington his first win as manager.

Afterwards, Worthington wore a smile of quiet satisfaction for he knows that the job is not yet done.

There are four games remaining, starting with Saturday’s visit of Accrington, who are two points and three places above his own side, but he was rightly encouraged by City’s display.

“We’ve given ourselves a fighting chance,” said the York manager. “It puts a bit of a marker down but we’ve got to go and do exactly the same thing against Accrington on Saturday.

“I’m just pleased for the players because there were a lot of very good performances out there and a lot of energy given as well.

“You could see that the performance of the whole team really lifted the crowd, and the supporters were magnificent.”

Having racked up the miles themselves on Saturday, when they returned from Bristol Rovers with a goalless draw, York showed no sign of weariness as they began this game in energetic fashion.

Chambers forced a point-blank save from Jake Cole with six minutes gone before threatening again from 25 yards, a right-foot effort flying just past the post. Plymouth, in contrast, looked dead on their feet. The old cliche about still being on the team coach sprang to mind, which is perhaps more of an excuse in their case than it is for others.

In front of the Argyle supporters behind the goal at the Grosvenor Road end, who turned out in force on a savagely cold day, it was Chambers who gave City a 20th-minute lead.

Adam Reed played the ball into the penalty area, Cresswell touched it on and Chambers was quicker than the advancing Cole, whom he beat with a clever, dinked, close-range finish.

Plymouth, playing in a garish away strip of yellow and green, were powerless in the face of the home side’s assault, which continued apace when Cresswell doubled the advantage on 28.

Tom Platt, who almost missed the match through sickness, had a header cleared off the line by Luke Young and Cresswell reacted with a striker’s instinct, nodding home from about eight yards.

It almost got better for York five minutes before the break when the livewire Chambers found space just inside the penalty box and curled a delightful right-foot shot inches wide of Cole’s left-hand upright; but for the howling wind, which swirled beneath slate-grey skies, it might just have nestled inside the post.

Given a half-time talking-to by manager John Sheridan, who applied the verbal equivalent of smelling salts to his players, Plymouth were less lackadaisical after the break.

Balls that had previously gone unchallenged were now keenly contested as they competed with York in a physical sense.

The visitors came close in the 73rd minute when Maxime Blanchard headed just wide from a right-wing cross, while Josh Carson missed a presentable opportunity at the other end when fed by Cresswell.

As York consolidated and injected fresh legs, Worthington took off both Cresswell and Chambers with 15 minutes remaining, City’s goalscorers receiving a rapturous ovation from the 4,682 crowd, which included 671 Green Army die-hards.

Plymouth huffed and puffed in the closing stages; Conor Hourihane fired just over from 20 yards with a left-foot drive and Ronan Murray tested Michael Ingham with a powerful low shot.

But City were full value for a win that was exactly the tonic their season required.

York City: Ingham; Oyebanjo, Smith, McGurk, O’Connell; Carson, Reed, Parslow, Platt, Chambers (Coulson 76); Cresswell (Walker 76). Unused substitutes: Jameson, McDaid, Blair, McLaughlin, Allan.

Plymouth Argyle: Cole; Blanchard, Branston, Wotton, Bhasera; Cowan-Hall (Murray 66), Young, Banton (Harvey 54), Hourihane, Bryan; Reid (Chadwick 54). Unused substitutes: Berry, Nelson, Gilmartin, Gurrieri.

Referee: Tony Harrington (Cleveland).