A year to remember is call after one to forget

The Minstermen chief is challenging his team to build on the 1-0 New Year’s Day home victory over Morecambe but also reasoned that patience, in the absence of big pay cheques, might still need to be the watchword at Bootham Crescent.

Even with the advantage of a sizeable budget, 2012 Blue Square Premier champions Fleetwood Town are yet to fully assert themselves in League Two’s higher reaches and, although Newport County are currently providing a compelling counter argument, the struggles of last term’s Conference title-winners Mansfield does give added support for Worthington’s claim that there is an acclimatisation period when clubs move up from one division to the next.

Offering his thought on the club’s prospects over the next 12 months, within earshot of City chairman Jason McGill, a smiling Worthington said: “We need to look at steady improvement.

“You don’t just bounce through the leagues when you have come out of the Conference, unless you can find a rich Arab living in Malton. Instead, you do things bit by bit.

“It’s like a jigsaw. You put it all together piece by piece and build.

“If you can do well along the way, while you are building, then great. That’s what you look to do but patience is a big thing.

“We are still in that period of change from the Conference to League football. That includes changing the mentality throughout the club and we are all working very hard to do that.

“We have started off 2014 in the right way and want to keep that going to build some momentum. If you can string four or five wins together, you can be sitting tenth or 12th and that’s possible if everybody stays focused.”

Racking up more victories than in the previous calendar year is certainly a necessity if the Minstermen are to make progress during the coming 12 months and avoid another anxiety-filled dogfight for Football League survival.

In an analysis of the results from the 18 teams who played all of their 2013 fixtures in League Two, City sit worryingly in second-bottom position, ahead of Torquay only.

But, tellingly, only seven of those sides lost fewer League games than the Bootham Crescent club last year.

Morecambe even suffered the same number of defeats as the Minstermen during 2013 but collected 19 more points.

The biggest lesson of the last 12 months, therefore, is that sharing the spoils on a regular basis will provide no protection against an unthinkable and calamitous fall into non-League football.

Masterminding a return to the attractive, attacking, fast-paced football of autumn when the likes of Scunthorpe (4-1), Portsmouth (4-2) and Torquay (3-0) were all swatted aside should be the biggest New Year’s resolution for Worthington’s team.

The odd ugly win along the way would be welcomed too but very few teams, bar perhaps Martin Foyle’s City class of 2009/10, are fortunate enough to achieve success or, more pointedly, avoid trouble with a succession of narrow victories that could have ended in any one of the three outcomes.

Passion-filled tome

For anybody wishing to relive City’s first season back in the Football League – kick by kick – supporter Paul Wilson has brought out a new book “The Joy of Sixfields”.

The 242-page publication carries match reports by Wilson from every game in the 2012/13 campaign although its authenticity is somewhat compromised by the author’s admission that he did not attend half of the games.

There are also minor inaccuracies – even in the book’s second paragraph James Meredith and Adriano Moké are wrongly detailed as being sold – but Wilson’s passion for the club shines through on most pages and there are also heartfelt tributes to his friends and fellow City supporters Ted Clarke and Bill Barton, who sadly passed away during the season.

The book costs £15.00 and can be purchased directly from the author on 01423 325295 or online at www.croftpublications.co.uk

Oyebanjo on the march

LANRE Oyebanjo picked up his second Press Player of the Month award of the season after taking the honours for December.

The former Republic of Ireland Under-21 international, who also finished top of the August standings, finished one point ahead of Keith Lowe after a man-of-the-match display during the 2-1 defeat at Bury.

That accolade earned Oyebanjo three points towards the standings with Michael Coulson (two points) and Wes Fletcher (one) also recognised for their efforts as our second and third-highest rated players respectively at Gigg Lane.

Coulson was also rewarded with the two bonus points on offer to the player who received most man-of-the-match votes from visitors to our website and followers of the @daveflettpress Twitter account.

During the 1-0 New Year’s Day home victory against Morecambe, Michael Ingham was both The Press man of the match and winner of the internet and Twitter polls to collect a maximum five Player of the Month points from the first fixture in January.

Lewis Montrose (two points) and Ryan Jarvis (one) were our second and third-highest rated performers from the Morecambe match.

To be in with a chance of presenting the January Player of the Month with his prize – a framed photograph – before a match at Bootham Crescent, register your man-of-the-match vote from today’s match against Dagenham or tweet @daveflettpress.

The Press Player of the Year latest standings: Carson 18 points, Oyebanjo 15, Fletcher 14, McGurk 14, O’Neill 14, Lowe 12, Brobbel 11, Montrose 11, Jarvis 9, Parslow 8, Ingham 7, Smith 7, Bowman 5, Chambers 5, Davies 5, Clay 4, Coulson 2, Pope 2, Puri 2, Whitehouse 2, Kettings 1.

The Press Player of the Month for December final standings: Oyebanjo 7, Lowe 6, Carson 4, Coulson 4, Davies 4, McGurk 4, Fletcher 2, O’Neill 1.

The Press Player of the Month for January latest standings: Ingham 5, Montrose 2, Jarvis 1.

Goals: Jarvis 9, Fletcher 8, Bowman 4, Brobbel 3, Carson 3, Coulson 1, McGurk 1, Montrose 1, O’Neill 1, Own goal 1.

Assists: O’Neill 5, Bowman 3, Brobbel 3, Carson 3, Fletcher 3, Jarvis 3, Clay 2, McGurk 2, Smith 2, Coulson 1, Cresswell 1, Fyfield 1, Ingham 1, Montrose 1, Oyebanjo 1.

Bad boys: Montrose nine yellow cards; Whitehouse six yellow; O’Neill, Oyebanjo, Smith all four yellow; Bowman two red, one yellow; Cresswell one red, one yellow; Carson, Davies, Fyfield, Jarvis, Lowe, McGurk, Platt all two yellow; Chambers, Clay, Coulson, Parslow all one yellow.