'Honest' Joe Terry Dolan held his hands-up and admitted he got it wrong after his York City players handed him a belated Christmas present with a 1-0 win at Macclesfield Town.
After last Friday night's sorry 2-0 defeat at the hands of Blackpool the City chief described the performance as 'powder puff' and ordered the squad in for extra training.
But after yesterday's Boxing Day bonus courtesy of Chris Iwelumo's magnificent 75th minute strike, the City chief admitted he was prepared to shoulder some of the blame for the Blackpool defeat.
"I was pleased because although I was critical of them on Friday night I take some responsibility myself for that performance," he explained.
"I wanted to keep the players bubbling after the game at Reading when in hindsight I would have been better changing a few more faces for the Blackpool game because the Plymouth and the Reading games had taken a lot out of them. That is something to learn from as far as I'm concerned for the future."
At the same time, Dolan was full of praise for yesterday's smash and grab raid that earned the Minstermen only their second League win away from Bootham Crescent this season and saw City keep a clean sheet for the first time since the end of October.
The win lifts City up just one place to 18th in the Division Three table but the Minstermen are now just one point behind 14th position Darlington and mid-table respectability.
"It was a different feeling to Friday night," said the City boss.
"We got away with it in the first 20 minutes because they hit the post and it bounced clear and we have had situations before this season when we have started badly and gone a goal down
"But we hung in there and in the second-half the longer the game went on the more I thought we had a better chance of winning it.
"I said to the players at half-time, as long as we defend well it only takes one chance to win a game and that is what happened.
"When you are away from home as long as you defend well and make it difficult for the opposition the longer the game goes on without them scoring the more they get edgy and the game opens up a bit more."
An added bonus for the City manager was the surprise return to action of young midfielder Christian Fox.
The teenager had not featured since October due to a knee injury and yesterday marked his first start since August. It was also the first time he has completed 90 minutes this season.
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