JOHN ASKEY has branded his York City side’s 1-0 loss to FC Halifax Town as “an unacceptable performance.”

York were beaten by Halifax through a Rob Harker goal on Tuesday night, though Town came close to scoring at least one or two more.

City looked flat for much of the match, particularly in the first 45 minutes, not troubling the Shaymen’s backline and goalkeeper, having just two shots throughout the game with neither being on target.

The Minstermen improved slightly in the second half, though were still unable to breach the Halifax defence.

“I hope (it wasn’t complacency), but I’m sure watching it, it looked like that,” reflected City boss Askey.

“There was no real desire, I don’t think we won a second ball in the first half. It was just poor.

“There was nobody other than the goalkeeper (Ethan Ross) you could pick out who’d done particularly well. Probably Maz, Maz was the only bright spot. 

“It’s an unacceptable performance and I feel sorry for all the people who have come and watched the game.

“To put a York City shirt on, then the least you expect is for people to work hard, win challenges and keep on playing even if you’re not playing particularly well yourself.

“It was poor, really poor. We warned them before the game not to get complacent.

“I don’t think I’ve got the words for the first half. All we can do is move on to the next one. 

“If people think they can just turn up and it’s going to happen, then they’re sadly mistaken and I think tonight will show everybody.”

It was an underwhelming performance from City, particularly after their 5-0 thrashing of Barnet just three days earlier.

“Every game is different. We know Halifax are down there, but they’ve got decent players. If you give anybody a sniff, they’ll take advantage,” noted Askey.

“They could have scored more, we were lucky it was only 1-0. We have to move on now, quickly, to Torquay and our home performances have got to improve. 

“We’ll see who is available for Saturday now. (Fallowfield) got a knock, I don’t know if it was one of our players who ran into him or one of theirs from a corner. 

“We’re hoping it’s not too serious. Fraser (Kerr) came off with a groin injury. 

“We just have to see, but whoever played tonight apart from one or two, the shirts are up for grabs.”