ALL for one and one for all is the new Minstermen maxim after York City crashed to a 4-1 opening day defeat at Chesterfield.
Shell-shocked City defender Mark Sertori admitted his team mates would have to take the criticism on the chin after a torrid second-half mauling by Nicky Law's Spireites.
To add to the frustration, City had seen their season start with a bang when summer signing Peter Duffield scored after just 43 seconds and York went on to dominate much of the first half.
"We have got to take all the criticism as team," reasoned Sertori. "There are no individuals at fault ,but when the whole team takes the praise then the whole team has to take the criticism as well.
"You cannot point the finger at anyone individual.
"The gaffer said at half-time we are all playing well and to keep it going but at the end he has had a go at us all, which is the way it should be.
"We have got to improve on that as a team defensively, starting from the front, to the middle to the back, to not give away goals as freely as that."
Sertori admitted the fact City had started so well made the result all the more galling.
"We were 1-0 up and cruising the game. We started the second half alright, then all of a sudden we shot ourselves in the foot and hit the self-destruct button," said a bemused Sertori.
"We let four silly goals in. That's is what we are annoyed about.
"We were so much in control at 1-0 and even at the beginning of the second-half, but you shouldn't falter like that and give away such silly goals.
"Even 1-1 we would have been happy going away with a point but after that the wheels have come off."
York manager Terry Dolan admitted City needed a swift back to basics approach.
"We haven't defended as badly as that in the last two or three months of last season and it's obviously a reminder to everybody that if you don't defend well you don't win football matches
"We let them take the impetus in the second half whereas in the first half we dominated and I was pleased with everything we had done.
"They had a couple of half-chances towards the end of the half and my words at half-time were that they were warnings for us, let's make sure we keep the ball behind them and keep it in their half.
"But we didn't and we suffered.
"It's disappointing when you get off to such a good start that you end up on the back of a 4-1 defeat.
"I don't want to make excuses, we haven't defended well, but the second goal came from a ball that came down the touchline and went at least a yard out of play. The linesman waved play-on.
"The fourth goal resulted from a quick-free kick which I didn't think was one; David Reeves has pulled Mark Sertori down and given it their way.
"So you can say we were a little bit unfortunate in that respect but a 4-1 defeat is a 4-1 defeat.
"We have got to look at the positives and the positives were our first-half performance.
"We have got make sure we try and do that for 90 minutes rather than 45 or 50."
On the injury front, wing-back Darren Edmondson suffered from painful blisters, while goalkeeper Fettis has a badly bruised thigh following a late challenge by David Reeves.
david.stanford@ycp.co.uk
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