FORTUNE, they say, favours the brave. It also smiled benevolently on the brittle at high-anxiety Bootham Crescent on Saturday.
Fragility was not to be found in York City's resolve, but it was there in abundance in the Minstermen's confidence. There was a palpable lack of steam to City's self-esteem.
This was not the City who earlier this season transformed Bootham Crescent into a near fortress. This was not the City who contemptuously doled out lessons in zip-quick football, melding a blend of precision and pace.
This was a City, whose assurance was paper-thin and composure fleeting. This was a City, whose certitude had been hollowed out by crashing losses to Millwall and Burnley.
But unlike those previous two collapses, this time the rush into an advantage was not dissipated. This time, and it was a one of unease especially in the second-half, City clasped the points to their collective chest.
By the final whistle-stop, issued from referee Chris Foy's lips, they had registered their first League victory for exactly two months, albeit by a fortuitous route.
And while another old adage may claim half the fun is in travelling, there was no mistake that Saturday's eventual destination was ultimately far more satisfying than the journey itself.
Not that the entire match was poor. Both teams showed endeavour and there were several commendable phases. But to City's chagrin the majority of those after half-time stemmed from Walsall.
And that brings the entire shooting-match back to the trick that is confidence.
Had it not been for those brace of morale-battering beatings suffered at the feet of Millwall and Burnley, which also followed on from a five-match run of draws, City may well have ventured from their first-half command to complete control.
But the cushion of that one-goal lead given the Minstermen by midfielder Mark Tinkler was not bolstered by too much protective padding.
As is often the case when a team is low on conviction there is a diligent tendency to just hold on.
So the backline drops back a few more yards, the midfield cordon retreats too, contracting the space between them and the rearguard.
The upsetting upshot is that strikers are left isolated while the opposition have even more room in which to manoeuvre.
When an advance from defence is made too often the strikers are surrounded or not given enough support.
It's not attractive, it's not going to win many admirers and it's also aggravates your own fans.
So it was at Bootham Crescent, where dissatisfaction grew into disaffection like a rabid infection from the 46th-minute through to stoppage-time.
All could have been so different had City scored with their very first attack. But the peach of a ball from Steve Bushell that bent into Gary Bull's path was lifted by the goal-starved forward a foot the wrong side of an upright.
City, showing three changes from their tough Turf Moor toppling, maintained that bright start. Bull's pairing with the precocious Jonathan Greening was a vibrant feature and Bushell was everywhere.
Up until the goal one of the best moments was a saving slide tackle from Wayne Hall, also recalled along with goalkeeper Mark Samways, another gutsy challenge from Bushell and a rush back from Paul Stephenson to complete the break up of a Walsall raid.
If that demonstrated resilience City's goal was the epitome of exactness.
Bushell slid a pass from deep to Greening, who bided his time perfectly before releasing Tinkler on a clear charge on goal. The playmaker did not even break stride as he advanced to slip the ball under James Walker.
Such startling simplicity vanished from thereon in, City not truly lifting hearts until a double thrust from Alan Pouton and Greening was denied by Walker in the sixth minute of stoppage time.
And apart from a Greening stab straight at the Saddlers' 'keeper, City spent the second-half penned back as much by their own withdrawal as by Walsall's pressure.
But the defence was solid, and Samways as sharp as a paper cut in his handling, though had he been joined by Schmeichel and Seaman not even all three could have stopped the explosive angled shot from substitute Michael Ricketts that rippled an upright to its foundations.
Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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