YORK CITY have promised to review their all-ticket policy – but do not anticipate changing the arrangements for the Portsmouth game a week on Saturday.

The Minstermen board will take another look at the scheme after a late change allowed a cash turnstile to be opened at each end at Bootham Crescent for the 2-1 defeat to Mansfield.

The game had been scheduled, and repeatedly publicised, as all-ticket in a bid to save on police costs.

But, the night before last Saturday’s match, that decision was changed following a new safety assessment.

Sophie Hicks, City’s director of community and communications, said one of the reasons for the shift was because business at the ticket office had not been as “swift” as the club might have expected.

“The decision was made on Friday night to carry out a safety assessment and we decided to review the situation regarding tickets because the sale of the home tickets hadn’t been as swift as expected,” she said.

“A safety assessment took place in liaison with North Yorkshire Police and it was deemed that the best way forward was to open a cash turnstile.

“Obviously the Mansfield tickets sales had gone very well. Every game at Mansfield is all-ticket so their fans are used to the all ticket route and they brought 900 fans, which was the big, significant following that we expected.

“The crowd on Saturday was 3,500, which meant there was 2,600 home fans so we were probably down about 400 to 500 on other games this season.

“But you don’t know what impact the playing performance and the disappointing result against AFC Wimbledon had on Saturday’s crowd.

“At board level, we will be looking at the situation and reviewing it but I don’t anticipate that anything will change ahead of the Portsmouth fixture – the high-profile fixture for us this season.”

Hicks admitted the late change in the all-ticket arrangements, which some fans were still unaware of on the morning of the match, had been less than ideal, saying the club was on a “learning curve”.

She added: “If there was a failing, and we have to learn from these, is that perhaps the review on the ticket sales and the safety situation could have happened earlier in the week.

“It’s a difficult situation. We will be reviewing it at board level, looking at all aspects of the ticket sales, at when they were sold, how many people went through the cash turnstiles on Saturday and obviously we have to weigh up whether that was worth the risk of making the game all ticket.”