York City manager reacts to play-off semi-final defeat to Oldham

Despite finishing higher than Oldham in the normal season by 23 points, the play-offs proved to be a brutal ask of York as they failed to deliver in a 3-0 hammering at the LNER Community Stadium, in a match where City failed to test the opposition goalkeeper even once.

It now means that Oldham are the team to book their spot at Wembley Stadium on Sunday, June 1, with the Minstermen instead remaining in the Vanarama National League for a fourth straight season.

Manager Hinshelwood was visibly hurt after the final whistle and took the time to credit Oldham for their efforts at a sold-out LNER Community Stadium, albeit the York boss believed that his team gave the visitors a helping hand on the evening.

“Firstly we’ve got to congratulate Oldham,” Hinshelwood stated.

“There wasn’t too many chances in the game, but they took their chances well. They have come, done the job and I wish them all the best in the final.

“Of course we did [give Oldham a helping hand], I think it was key that we tried to stick to how we played and all we have done all season.

“If we look at the first goal back, Harrison [Male] has played it very quickly to Hunty, and that’s obviously a big moment in the game.

“The goals in quick succession in the second-half have just killed the tie all together.”

Hinshelwood believes that a deciding factor in the contest was the experience and knowhow which Oldham possess over City, admitting that it was a lesson his team took on how to approach big matches such as a play-off.

He used the example of the defeats at Barnet and Forest Green Rovers as example, and also went into detail on the absence of defender Adam Crookes, who was the only change to the starting 11.

Crookes had suffered a groin injury when practicing penalties in Monday’s training session, which disrupted the York manager’s plans on how to set-up for the match.

Hinshelwood confessed: “It’s probably just where we are, our first season, the top teams have had a bit more experience and a bit more knowhow.

“When we play against the teams this year in big games, they seem to anticipate where the next pass is going to go and tonight was one of those nights.

“It’s experience and the quality of player, but it’s not the time to start hammering the players.

“They have been unbelievable and have given us their all, they have been brilliant all season.

“Our learnings needs to be that in these big games, we need to be a bit more switched on.

“Barnet, they came and put it on us at their place, Forest Green in the second-half at their place.

“They are the ones that spring to mind really, in those games we just lacked a bit of knowhow.

“That’s the learnings, an experienced manager, an experienced team, I think that they had eight or so that just sat in the dugout as experienced players, which is the depth of their squad.

“We were at our limit today, Crookesy had done his groin taking a penalty on Monday, which killed us a little bit.

“Malachi [Fagan-Walcott] showed how good he can be from the full-back position, but we threw Ty [Sinclair] there which really stretched our squad to the limits today.

“It did [disrupt his plans], we thought they would play with the same sort of formation which meant that Ty could get forward a bit more.

“He didn’t have an out-and-out winger to come up against like he did in the Gateshead game, which was difficult against him.

“We thought it could allow him some space on the right hand side.”

Dipo Akinyemi was Crookes’ replacement in the starting 11, seeing City have an attacking squad, yet they failed to test goalkeeper Matthew Hudson once.

Hinshelwood admitted that their lack of composure in front of goal was ‘the biggest disappointment’ to take from the match.

“Was there many chances?” He asked.

“The players have been excellent all season when they’ve got into the final third and Len [John-Lewis] has had a free header, Dipo had a chance and Ash [Nathaniel-George] had a moment.

“We just didn’t capitalise in those moments, and they certainly did.

“That’s the biggest disappointment we’ll take from it.

“55 minutes they go 3-0 up and then we’re just trying to come up with ways to work the goalkeeper a little bit.

“Ash comes in, plays it to Dips and he has a good chance, but doesn’t quite make contact.

“These moments, they need to go for you, but they unfortunately didn’t go for us today.”

Hinshelwood did also put the result into reality, in what has been the second-best season in York’s history for points tallies as the Minstermen reached 96 in the normal season.

The boss also used recent examples of Barnet, Wrexham, Notts County and Chesterfield, who all suffered play-off heartbreak in the fifth tier before going on to secure promotion.

“If we put it into a bit of reality, which we will do over the next couple of days, it has taken Barnet three seasons after getting into the play-offs and missing out.

“It took Wrexham a couple of seasons, Notts County a couple of seasons, Chesterfield, they got in the play-offs and learned from it.

“That’s probably where we are unfortunately, and I know that is easier to say now once we’ve been knocked out in a semi-final.

“There’s lots of positives from this season, and now it’s about building and making sure we come back even stronger to give it another go and improve on this season.”

Finally, Hinshelwood wanted to address the supporters as the season came to a end at the LNER Community Stadium: “We’re disappointed that we couldn’t get the job done and over the line.

“We thank them from myself, the players, the staff, for their support throughout the season.

“Home and away, they have been unbelievable.”