RELIEVED manager Alan Little hailed his York City battlers for fighting their way out of the depths of despair.

He conceded that City's 1-0 victory over Walsall on Saturday was far from convincing.

But the win was the first on the League front since beating Wrexham by the same slender scoreline two months earlier and it also restored City to a place in the top ten of Division Two.

All week in the build-up to the Saddlers' visit to Bootham Crescent the emphasis was on victory and nothing else.

Little was highly satisfied that the three points targeted by the club as the best answer to the slough of despond generated by two heavy losses against Millwall and Burnley, had been gathered in.

"It was the result we wanted after what we have been through in the previous two matches," ventured the City boss. "It also should be noted that it took us past the barrier of 40 points, which is important. We've been stuck a while in the 30s, so it's good to move on."

A look back at last season shows that City had to wait until another month before totalling 41 points and that after 35 matches. The same tally has been accumulated in five matches less.

The City manager agreed the performance had faded away from his men after half-time. He attributed that to the knocks suffered by his men over the previous fortnight.

"I thought the first-half was a good performance. We moved the ball about well and were good value for our lead. But in the second-half the show we put on was very nervous and that was due to a lack of confidence, which we still need to build up."

As he looked back on the games leading up to the Walsall visit he added: "Players are affected by defeats. There was a lot of anxiousness about the whole ground today.

"But a win breeds confidence and now we can go to Plymouth next week and aim to notch 44 points and get back into the play-off pack."

Another bonus for City, said Little, was the performance of 19-year-old Jonathan Greening. Though it was only his second appearance from the start, it was the first time the youngster had featured in a full 90 minutes of League action.

"We learned a few more things about Jonathan today. He looked sharp and his movement was good and he has a lot of flair."

There was also praise for the right-flank tandem of Graeme Murty and Alan Pouton. "Those two lads were both playing out of their natural positions, but they went in there and did a job for the team. That's a credit to them both."

Little said the fans had to be patient with the players, insisting that there was always going to be a tail-off in form at some stage."I think we have played some great football here this season. But there are always going to be troughs.

"Off the back of two bad results we have got a win and we should be grateful for that."

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