ADAM HINSHELWOOD praised the character of his York City squad to score two stoppage-time goals and earn three points against FC Halifax Town.

Following Jamie Cooke’s first-half opener for Halifax, York were on the backfoot for much of the second-half, despite playing in front of more City supporters than Halifax ones at the Shay.

With the fourth official announcing that there would be eight minutes of additional time added on, the Minstermen showed incredible fight as Malachi Fagan-Walcott scored his first for the club with a volley at the back post.

And with just one minute left on the clock, a Callum Howe header was attacked by Ollie Pearce, who forced the ball over the line to send the travelling supporters into jubilation.

Despite the drama and late win, Hinshelwood was understandably disappointed with large parts of York’s performance.

“I can’t begin to tell you [how York won],” Hinshelwood laughed.

“In the first-half, we have come away from home and created a lot of chances.

“Marv [Armstrong] has had a good header, we got into the final third and stayed a bit more relaxed.

“We didn’t have that cutting edge today, especially in the first-half.

“We had no control of the game in the second-half, but then the togetherness and the character that we speak about shined through.

“We kept going, kept trying to be brave with our substitutions and sometimes it doesn’t have to be pretty.

“It’s three points on the road, a massive win and it backs up some really good home performances.

“In large parts of the second-half we were poor, there was loads for us to work on, but ultimately we grinded together and managed to come away with the win.

“The credit must go to the players for the togetherness, the character they have shown to keep going.

“We weren’t at our best, and it’s nice to score two scrappy goals.

“There has been games where we have drawn and probably should have won, so it evens itself up throughout the course of the season.

“They had some chances on the counter-attack as well and looked a bit more ruthless, they had one chance on the counter-attack in the first-half and was more ruthless with it.

“It was just a bit casual from our point of view, and it’s the standard that the players have got to set themselves.

“To be a six or a seven out of ten probably isn’t enough, we’ve got to demand more and that’s got to be the expectation at the top end of the table.

“You’ve got to challenge yourself to be better and demand eights or nines from your performance.”

With 2,225 York supporters in attendance, Hinshelwood was in awe of the loyalty shown by those travelling fans.

“They were unbelievable, what a following today.

“As a player, a manager, anyone of the coaching staff, they are all coming in and saying that it was unbelievable out there.

“If you can’t enjoy playing in front of that today, then you shouldn’t be doing it really.

“I’m just so grateful that we managed to give them something to cheer at the end, because I thought that it was going to be one of those days where it didn’t fall for us.

“It’s unbelievable, I’m living in the City now and you can sense it.

“I went to the fish and chip shop last night and the guy there said that he was going to his first game in 15 years.

“There’s definitely a bit of a buzz being created and it’s brilliant to see.”

The three points has taken York to the summit of the Vanarama National League after Forest Green Rovers dropped points, a position that Hinshelwood is happy to occupy, but will not get too excited with until later in the campaign.

“We’re 16 games in, so hopefully when we’re 36 games in we will still be there and we can start to get a bit more excited.

“We were disappointed with large parts of our game today, so there are standards that we have got to set to improve upon that performance.

“If we play like that next week, blimey, we’ll be on the wrong side of a good hiding.”