THERE was final day joy and final day heartbreak in the Vanarama National League North for two former York City representatives.

City legend Clayton Donaldson celebrated a monumental achievement in keeping Farsley Celtic in the division on the final day, following a nerve-wracking 2-0 victory over Buxton at the Citadel.

Despite Farsley managing just one victory in their 12 matches prior to the fixture, goals from former York centre-halve Tom Allan and an audacious back-heel from Isaac Assenso saw the Celts secure their status in the National League North for a fifth consecutive year.

However, Farsley, which include a host of former York players such as Michael Coulson, Allan and Donaldson, needed a helping hand from elsewhere as a crushing result for Blyth Spartans saw the North East club relegated to the seventh tier.

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Donaldson, who has made a combined 118 appearances for City scoring 49 goals, spoke to the club media after the match, saying: “I’m over the moon to finally get over the line, it’s been a long time coming but I had every faith and confidence that we’d be able to get over the line.

“It was just a matter of when really and we did it on the last game of the season, so better late than never.

“It’s been a difficult, interesting season. We had 44 points in February and then kind of limped over the line, so it’s been a massive learning curve and one that I have enjoyed.

“We definitely deserved it over the course of the season, especially after the start we had. Better late than never!”

A disastrous display at Croft Park saw Blyth crumble to a 5-1 defeat to play-off semi-finalists Brackley Town, with a brace each from Morgan Roberts and Danny Newton being paired by a Dan Turner strike earning Brackley a deserved three points.

It spells bad news for former City striker Jon Shaw, who has been in charge of Blyth since December, with the 40-year-old suffering relegation in his first season as a manager.

Shaw represented the Minstermen on eight occasions in the 2003/04 season when on loan from Sheffield Wednesday, failing to register a goal, before going on to have spells with the likes of Burton Albion, Luton Town and Gateshead.

Shaw reacted to Blyth’s relegation and took sole responsibility, telling club media: “I don’t really want to dwell on the performance today because in the grand scheme of it, it’s not what got us relegated.

“We obviously had a great opportunity today with it being in our hands to give it a real go against a real good opponent in Brackley, but I’m sure some of the lads will know that they didn’t put their best foot forward in the first half.

“It’s not the performance we expected or wanted and its taken out of our hands and we’re relying on results elsewhere which didn’t come.

“We’re obviously emotional and I’d like to apologise to everybody associated with the club, be that the fans or the people in the football club, we’ve gone down on my watch and that’s on me.”