YORK City’s penultimate friendly of pre-season was something of an ‘eye-opener’ for assistant manager Gary Elphick, with the Minstermen slipping to a 2-0 defeat to Garforth Town.

A youthful eleven for York saw five under-19 representatives start for City, banded with the likes of George Sykes-Kenworthy, Zanda Siziba and Thierry Latty-Fairweather, who all find themselves on the outskirts of the squad.

Levi Andoh made his long-awaited return to the field after just shy of one year since his last York appearance, with Leone Gravata also earning valuable minutes in a competitive fixture against Northern Premier League east division outfit Garforth.

Despite the difference in levels, it was the hosts who would come away with a surprise win, with assistant manager Elphick seeing room for improvement, as Adam Hinshelwood allowed his right-hand man to take the reigns, instead of reviewing the match from the stand.

Elphick eyed City’s performance as a learning curve for the youngsters, who he feels need to prove themselves to be able to perform at a higher standard if they wish to feature within the first-team, with the assistant admitting that he felt disappointment at the display.

“It was a bit of an eye-opener, it’s sort of the level they need to get to,” Elphick told the club media team.

“Garforth were worthy winners tonight [Tuesday evening] and it’s got to be a massive learning curve for our young lads, if that’s the level that they are playing at and they want to become York City Football Club players, they’ve got a little bit of climbing to do.

“Obviously it’s a positive learning curve for them, and they take it on board, but we’re a little bit disappointed with how we performed as we could have done slightly better.

“They [Garforth] do the basics much better than our young lads at the moment, they are a lot more street-wise than we are.

“We’re a National League Conference club and we need to be bringing youngsters through, so it was a bit of an eye-opener of where we need to get to.

“I’m sure that Dan [Wilson, Head of Youth Development] and Tim [Ryan, under-19’s manager] will look at that and think ‘alright, we need to start bringing a few things into play now and kicking these players on’, with us as the first-team staff as well.

“We’re all in it together, and I know that it’s fairly early on in their pre-season as well, so it’s something else that we need to consider.

“I think they are the best lessons in life, the ones that come and smack you between the eyes. Hopefully we can take that on board and learn from it.

RECOMMENDED READING: 

“Hinsh is probably a little bit disappointed as well, we want to set a culture in the club where we come to places like this with our youngsters and we beat teams like Garforth, being respectful to them as well, but that is where we aim to get to.

“Hinsh was there watching, there were some stronger players on the night who have got 90 minutes, you’ve got Paddy [McLaughlin] and Billy [Bill Marshall], so that’s a massive positive for us as well.

“It’s good always for the gaffer to cast his eye over these youngsters to see what is needed as well.”

The result was not ideal for Elphick or York, but the City assistant was pleased to see potential members of the first-team squad gaining a full 90 minutes into their legs.

Paddy McLaughlin captained the side as goals from Matt Antcliff and Sam Cable demoted York to a 2-0 loss, with Elphick beginning to look ahead to the Vanarama National League season with his eye on how the squad will shape up when visiting Southend United.

Elphick commented: “It’s perfect, Paddy and Billy got exactly out of the game what they needed.

“We lost the ball a little bit more times than we should have, and their running stats are now very high.

“They’ve got their 90 minutes now before the season starts, they look to be included in the squad now.

“That’s the aim, to get all of these players to Southend at their peak fitness level.

“We’ve got to put this into the sequence of events in pre-season, but this has ticked a box.

“We move on and everything now is just gearing up for Southend, we know that we have got our first-team squad probably exactly where we want it, we’ve got to keep preparing for Spennymoor and then for the final week of preparing for the Southend game.”

Elphick has also been impressed with the togetherness of the team throughout the City squad, believing that the new additions have meshed well with players that were already contracted to the club, labelling the spirit as ‘special’ with competitive football itching closer.

“The biggest thing for me is the group, the spirit,” Elphick enthused.

“I think we’ve brought in great characters and a few Worthing lads that have come in, how they’ve mixed in with the Yorkshire lads, the North and South divide has really come together.

“It’s a beautiful bond, there’s a special spirit in the camp at the moment.

“We can’t speak too soon, we’ve got to do the walking come Southend, the proof in the pudding will be at the start of the season.

“I’m pretty sure that we’re in a good position, there is still plenty of hard work ahead and we have got to get it right, as coaches and players.”