WHILE Silver Birch was winning the Grand National on Saturday, York City and Stafford Rangers were pulling up few trees at Marston Road.

Slim Pickings also proved an astute each-way bet at Aintree and that was an apt description of proceedings in a drab Conference clash that saw few genuine scoring chances created at either end of the pitch.

Hot weather and a hard playing surface did not help matters but neither side deserved victory with both seemingly content to settle for a point and save their respective quests for play-off qualification and Conference survival for another day as the season enters its final fortnight.

It is to be hoped that City's season-long inability to beat teams from the lower regions of the table does not prove costly in their penultimate game at Southport next weekend.

Saturday's 0-0 stalemate at Stafford means Billy McEwan's men have failed to win any of their nine fixtures against sides currently occupying the bottom five places of the division.

Third-bottom Southport are also the Conference's unlikely form team, derailing Gravesend and Northfleet's play-off challenge with a thumping 4-0 away win on Saturday, which represented their fourth consecutive victory after equally impressive triumphs over Burton (3-1), Rushden (3-2) and Stafford (5-1).

Unbeaten in six matches, the Sandgrounders are unlikely to provide City with a simple, final opportunity to overduly impress their superiority against the division's lowest lights.

At Stafford, City were unusually shot-shy having scored in every one of their previous 11 matches away from home - a run that stretched back to the 0-0 draw at fourth-bottom Grays on December 9.

Cameroon-born home striker Guy Madjo looked the most likely source of a goal all afternoon but that was a fairly, easily-obtained accolade.

The willing Madjo, a potent combination of pace and power, created the first chance of the game on seven minutes when his purposeful run was checked by David McGurk and on-loan Doncaster midfielder Anthony Griffith swept a shot over Tom Evans' crossbar from 30 yards.

Craig James' free-kick, intended as a cross, then bounced narrowly wide at the other end before Madjo fired a 15-yard, angled shot straight at Evans.

The Minstermen improved towards the end of the half with Neal Bishop seeing a 20-yard effort tipped over, skipper Manny Panther drilling off target from long range and Martyn Woolford slicing wide with his right foot from the edge of the penalty box.

Woolford began the second-half with a similar shot and Robin Gibson should have turned the colour of his red boots after wasting a promising opening for Stafford when he stubbed a 15-yard shot straight at Evans.

Former Rowntree Mackintosh striker Neil Grayson, now 42, then drove wide from the edge of the area while, at the other end, an ambitious 30-yard effort from substitute Mark Convery sailed over.

An overhit Woolford cross was also tipped to safety by home 'keeper Robert Duggan who beat out a Craig Farrell drive from the resulting short corner.

The last chance of an anti-climatic afternoon then saw Madjo shoot tamely at Evans from 15 yards after displaying clever footwork on 86 minutes.

Next Saturday is unlikely to be as low key and lacklustre for both sides.


Stafford Rangers v York City at Marston Road

York City: Evans 6, Purkiss 7, Parslow 7, McGurk 8, James 6, Bishop 7, Panther 8, Woolford 6, Bowey 6 (Brodie 26, 6; Convery 57, 6), Farrell 6, Donaldson 6.

Key: 10 - Faultless; 9 - Outstanding; 8 - Excellent; 7 - Good; 6 - Average; 5 - Below par; 4 - Poor; 3 - Dud; 2 - Hopeless; 1 - Retire.

Subs (not used): Gamble, Lloyd, Greenwood.

Star man: Panther - full of running and stayed strong to the end despite energy-sapping conditions.

Stafford Rangers: Robert Duggan, Richie Sutton, Craig McAughtrie, Wayne Daniel, Nathan Talbott, Ged Murphy, Craig Lovatt, Anthony Griffith, Robin Gibson, Neil Grayson (Andy White, 83), Guy Madjo. Subs not used: Levi Reid, Danny Edwards, Liam Murray, Ange Lorougnon.

Bookings: Griffith 38, Murphy 52, Purkiss 88.

Sent off: None.

Referee: Colin Harwood (Norfolk). Rating: Odd puzzling decision but generally uncontroversial.

Attendance: 1,923.

Weather watch: Hot enough for water breaks.

Game breaker: City's best spell of pressure came just before half-time but they failed to score. A goal would have opened up the game.

Match rating: A strangely subdued affair considering the game's importance to both teams. Probably the least memorable game of the season or, indeed, many seasons. Very little incident.

Billy verdict: "I was pleased that we kept a clean sheet but a few of our players looked a bit leggy."


Player watch: Manny Panther

Goal attempts on target: 0

Goal attempts off target: 1

Blocked goal attempts: 0

Passes to own player: 19

Passes to opposition: 3

Crosses to own player: 0

Crosses to opposition: 0

Pass success rate: 86.4 per cent

Dribbles ball retained: 5

Dribbles ball lost: 2

Dribble success rate: 71.4 per cent

Headers: 10 Tackles: 11

Clearances, blocks and interceptions: 3

Free-kicks won: 1

Free-kicks conceded: 2

Offsides: 0

Bookings: 0

Final summary: Gave another hard-working display in the engine room, making an impressive 11 tackles and winning his fair share of headers. Tackled with care, only conceding two fouls and used his strength to go past opponents more times than he was dispossessed. Panther's distribution was largely reliable as well.