York City defending a positive in victory versus Rochdale

A first midweek match of the Vanarama National League season for York saw Ricky Aguiar bag his first in City colours in the fourth minute, latching onto Ollie Pearce’s pass before producing a composed finish.

The Minstermen have enjoyed a positive start to the campaign with seven points from a possible nine, despite Tuesday’s clash with Rochdale not being as comfortable as Hinshelwood would have wished for.

The York boss was impressed with the manner of defending shown from his side, and felt that he witnessed a different version of what his set of players are capable of.

“We just couldn’t quite get the second goal tonight, which would have made it a bit more comfortable for everybody,” Hinshelwood told BBC York.

“We’ve shown a different side of us tonight, we had to dig in, be solid, be resolute against a very good side.

“We limited them to that chance at the end from a corner, I can’t remember H [Harrison Male] being worked too much.

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“We hit the bar twice and just couldn’t quite get the second goal, but I’m delighted, what a performance.

“It’s two clean sheets now, against a very good Rochdale team, and to take three points is pleasing.

“We’ve got to dust ourselves down, we’ve got a big weekend now.

“We want to stay and get that feeling back, enjoy our games of football and we want that positivity to stay.

“Hopefully they [the fans] are enjoying what they’re seeing, five-and-a-half thousand on a Tuesday night is unbelievable.

“We’re hoping that they are enjoying it, will want to come back and watch some more, and you really feel that at this club.

“If you can get it right and can get the City behind you, it can be some place.

“I really felt that tonight, I’m really enjoying coming here and watching games of football now, I hope that the supporters are as well.”

Hinshelwood was pleased to see Aguiar add his first goal for the club and hopes that it will be helpful in the midfielder settling in to his new surroundings, with the City boss also impressed by Pearce’s performance and assist.

The boss enthused: “Rick come to us midweek through pre-season and is still trying to find his feet, but he’s got goals in him has Rick.

“I’m hoping now that this will set him down and he can go on a bit of a run for us.

“He works tirelessly does Ollie, some of his runs go a bit unnoticed and he’s a clever player, he makes clever runs and occupies a back line.

“I’m delighted that he got the assist today, he probably could have scored when he hit the post but to dig in, keep another clean sheet was really impressive to see.

“It’s back-to-back clean sheets now and it’s something that we’ve got to pride ourselves on, because we know that with the players we’ve got in the attacking areas, we can score some goals.”

York also made a quadruple substitution on the hour mark, the first in City’s competitive history, as well as a change of shape, which Hinshelwood admitted came a little too early on his part.

Ricky Aguiar opened his account in York City colours. (Image: Tom Poole)

The boss explained the decision behind that, and spoke on the new substitution ruling that allows five to be made, with seven on the bench.

“We’ve shown that different side of us, we had to dig in and defend our box towards the end.

“We changed shape, maybe a bit too early from myself, after 60 minutes as we thought Len [Lenell John-Lewis] and Dips [Dipo Akinyemi] could give us something.

“When you turn around and you’ve got those options on the bench, it’s amazing to have for a manager.

“They are having a real impact in games.

“They started to get a few chances, half-chances, and we just thought that they could come on and press a little bit.

“I thought then that Len and Dips could offer us something, we could play on them and press but it didn’t quite fall for us.

“The second goal would have made it a bit more emphatic, but let’s not take anything away from Rochdale, Jim has got an unbelievable team and they play some good stuff.

“We’ve gone toe-to-toe with them today and the early goal has made the difference.

“I like it, when you’ve got seven very good substitutes sat behind you, you know that you can bring on four at one time and that it can have a big impact for you.

“You can change up your game plan, almost half of your team can be changed and rotated around.

“It makes a difference.”

Hinshelwood also discussed a competitive debut for Darragh O’Connor, who picked up his first minutes for the club.

“He did well, he’s been waiting patiently for his opportunity but Ryan [Fallowfield] and Cal [Callum Howe] have done well in the centre of the defence.

“We’ve got to be able to adapt and go to a back three with Darragh on the left-hand side.

“There were times where the ball got put in behind him, all the times it was in front of him he defended well, but we’ve got to work on Darragh being on the turn and handling those balls over the top.

“On the main, it was a very good performance from him.”