JOHN ASKEY believes that his current York City side look stronger than the one he had last season.

York opened their pre-season campaign on Friday, falling to a 3-2 defeat against Middlesbrough at the LNER Community Stadium in the first of six planned friendlies.

Though City were unable to win or draw, there were several positives to take from the performance which was put in against a side that play in the Sky Bet Championship, three tiers above the Minstermen.

It was the second pre-season game for a ‘Boro side that resumed training in mid-June. York, meanwhile, began their season preparations on July 1.

When asked if he saw positives in a side that had only returned to training just over a week ago, City manager Askey said: “I think so. Time will tell, but I think we look stronger than we did last year.

“I think we’ve got better players in, but we need that for the league we’re going into. I think when we start to play teams in our league, that’s when we’ll show our strength and fitness.”

York's three concessions against Middlesbrough came as a result of some quick, fluid movements, as well as fast reactions to any missed opportunities.

While they may have lost the game, Askey was adamant that his focus was on matters other than the result.

“It wasn’t really about (the goals)," he insisted. "It was more about fitness and when you’re playing a team like Middlesbrough, who are probably going to be challenging at the top of the Championship, I’m not too worried about how many goals they scored or how we looked fitness wise. 

"You can only benefit from playing against players like that. They’re bigger, faster, fitter and have been training for three weeks. 

"We’ve only just started to come back and that was our first game, I was really pleased with the effort. 

"You don’t have to get carried away with performances, the main thing is everyone came through it and hopefully we can get everyone really fit for the start of the season.”