CHRIS Smith confessed that his goal for York City at Dagenham & Redbridge ranks as highly as any he has scored in the past.
The City skipper opened the scoring at Victoria Road 67 minutes into a match that the visitors needed to draw to secure their Footbal League survival.
Results elsewhere meant the Minstermen would have been safe immaterial of the outcome in East London, but that did not diminish the pleasure the 31-year-old felt when, following instructions from team-mate Dan Parslow, he saw the ball finish up in the back of the net in front of a packed away end.
Of his second-half strike, the former Tamworth centre-back said: “It’s got be up there with the best.
“The goals I have scored in the past have won League points but that one was a bit different. To be honest, it was a bit of a turn, swivel, hit and hope and I didn’t really know where the goal was.
“I just heard Pars shout ‘hit it’ so that’s what I did and, luckily, it went through the ’keeper’s legs. As soon as it went in, there was a lot of relief and we started to play a bit better.”
Victory meant the visitors finished the season six places and four points above the relegation zone and just six points short of position in the top half of the table.
On that statistic, Smith added: “It might have been an up-and-down season but, overall, nobody can really complain with where we have finished and, in mine and the players’ honest opinion, we feel we have only probably let ourselves down in five or six games this season. The rest of the games we have dropped points in have been draws and, I think, in ten of those 19 we have drawn we should have held on and won.
“That’s 20 points and that would have got us in the play-offs. It could have been such a good season but, on the other hand, it could have been a disaster, so to go on a run of four wins and two draws to stay up is all credit to the players.”
In hindsight, the skipper believes it might have been an error to publically set the side’s sights so high at the start of the season.
“Maybe the biggest mistake we made as a club was stating that we were pushing for the play-offs,” he reasoned. “We knew really our goals were to be solid and survival would be the main achievement.
“It’s a tough division with good, experienced players. We had quite a young side who now have more experience and, hopefully, that will benefit them whether they stay at the club or move on.” Smith feels, meanwhile, manager Nigel Worthington, brought to the club early last month, is the right person to help the Minstermen make further progress now.
He said: “The gaffer has come in and done brilliantly to work out his team and formation. He’s been here ten games and I could not say a bad word about him. He had his way he wanted to play and it did not happen instantly but we took it on board gradually and he has a good pedigree to take this club forward.”
A travelling army, just short of 1,200 fans, gave their vocal support to Smith and his team-mates at Dagenham and the former Reading reserve felt their backing made a difference, adding: “Even at half-time we could hear them because the changing rooms were underneath that stand. It just shows what this club could be with a bit of ambition and a bit more push.”
As Smith waits to hear whether he will be offered a new deal, he is hoping the relationship between sections of supporters and individual players can be less fractious next term. Smith is entitled to leave the club on a free transfer under the Bosman ruling and, when asked about his own future, said: “I’m out of contract from June 30.
“Along with every single player, I’ve had quite a lot of criticism from the fans and it’s hard to take sometimes. I believe I have done my job well in the last ten games and, hopefully, we can all learn from this season as a club that it’s important to stick together when we are going through a bad patch and not point fingers at individuals.
“I will be honest, though, as much as it has been an up-and-down season, I have really enjoyed being back in the League with York City.”
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