ADAM HINSHELWOOD took ‘full responsibility’ for York City’s 2-0 defeat to Forest Green Rovers.

York lost top spot in the National League after two well-taken strikes in the second-half gifted Forest Green the three points, who leapfrogged City in the table as a result.

It’s the Minstermen’s first away defeat of the season and their first league defeat in 12 matches, a remarkable run of form that had seen York move into first position.

Hinshelwood was disappointed that an incredible run of form had come to an end against Forest Green, and admitted that he felt his substitutions were a cause behind a rare defeat for City.

“I’ve got to take full responsibility,” Hinshelwood told BBC York.

“I’m disappointed with the changes I made, I thought it was two good teams to be honest.

“In the first-half, we were probably the better team but just didn’t work their goalkeeper enough.

“They’ve shown the quality that they have got in the forward areas, it was probably the difference on the day.

“Whenever we got into good areas, we slipped over or crossed it to the goalkeeper or behind the goal.

“It’s not the time to criticise the players by any stretch of the imagination, they have been superb up to now.

“We’ve got take it on the chin, the better team won on the day and we will take a lot from today’s defeat and make sure we can bounce back and be better.

“I was just disappointed with where they got a bit of momentum, got on top and we went away from what we do.

“They went from back to front too often, and we haven’t got the players to play that way the way that Forest Green played.

“I think the subs were wrong completely.

“Potentially not having Crookesy on the bench, Cam John gets injured.

“I take a lot of responsibility, I don’t think the subs were right today.

“I wanted to encourage the team at half-time to keep playing because I thought that the first-half was excellent to be honest, some of our patterns were really good.

“They applied a bit more pressure, and when teams do that to us we have got to be brave and play through it, not just resort to going from back to front and into the top line too early.”

York had fallen behind after an error from Harrison Male saw the goalkeeper’s clearance slice into the path of Kyle McAllister, who laid the ball into Harvey Bunker, with his finish curling into the top right corner.

Hinshelwood offered his support to Male for a rare mistake from the City shot-stopper, and labelled the defeat as a ‘wake up call’ for the Minstermen.

“Harrison has been unbelievable and I encourage him to play that way.

“I’m a bit disappointed that we didn’t play that way more after [the first goal], it’s not a time to criticise anyone.

“We lick our wounds, we learn a lot from today and make sure we come back better.

“It’s a wake up call, there are some top teams and some good players, it’s down to us to respond now.

“We’ve got to train hard this week and see where we can improve, there will be lots that we can learn from that game today.”

Bunker’s strike was Forest Green’s first, but it was a fantastic finish from McAllister that doubled the home side’s lead.

Hinshelwood now wants to see a reaction from his players, who he feels won’t lose their well-established team spirit after one loss, whilst also confirming that Cameron John’s injury did not appear good for York.

The boss added: “We obviously don’t enjoy losing games of football, but when it does happen we have got to learn from it and come together as a team.

“We spoke about how well the team spirit has been, and the team spirit has always been good when we’re winning games, but how good is it now after a defeat?

“This week after training we’ll learn a lot about it.

“[On John] It might be a tear of his hamstring. It’s a bad one, we’ll have to see but it is early days.

“We’re just going off of early indications, so we’ll do a scan and see how he is.

“I think that really changed the complex, Joe Felix was at left-back and I thought we were getting momentum on the left-side with Cam and Ash [Nathaniel-George], but probably lost some momentum after that.

“That’s not in reflection of anyone that came on, we just lost a bit of momentum with that change.

“It’s not the reason we lost today by any stretch of the imagination.

“Ultimately, a very good side has gone top of the league.”