York City 1, Salisbury 1

Having reached double figures after Saturday’s 1-1 home draw with Salisbury City, the Minstermen’s tenth place standing in the Blue Square Premier table does, indeed, seem a fair reflection of the club’s campaign thus far.

Before last month’s opening day trip to current leaders Crawley Town, Walker would, undoubtedly, have settled for one defeat from his first ten fixtures.

Three victories, however, would not have been deemed a good return from that same batch of matches.

Having already played the division’s top five sides, City are clearly more difficult to beat than last season, but they are also experiencing greater difficulties beating teams in 2008/9.

Aside from the televised home games with Mansfield and Wrexham, the Minstermen have struggled to produce a fluent attacking performance and, on Saturday, another flat, uneventful start to a match saw patient home supporters wait 20 minutes for their team’s first corner and 42 for the first shot.

City relied on a set-piece again as their most likely source of a goal with a scrambled effort from substitute Daniel McBreen earning an 86th-minute point following Ben Purkiss’ free-kick.

In open play, though, the Minstermen were once more found wanting.

Onome Sodje, Craig Farrell and Richard Brodie reached double figures in front of goal last season despite being less than regular fixtures in the team.

All three started against Salisbury on Saturday but struggled for opportunities with Simon Rusk and Simon Russell, in particular, finding it hard to impose a midfield stranglehold on the game.

Only one shot was mustereted between the two sides during the opening half-hour – a weak Charlie Griffin edge-of-the-box effort after three minutes, which only required a routine save from Michael Ingham. The next attempt – on 33 minutes – was an equally tame toe-poke wide from a similar distance by Liam Feeney.

Moments later, Djoumin Sangare’s header from a Feeney corner was deflected over by Danny Parslow before City finally made an attacking contribution to the game on 39 minutes when Brodie sprung the visitors’ offside trap to race on to a through ball by the industrious Mark Greaves.

Cutting in from the right, the Minstermen’s latest England ‘C’ international then drove for goal but, after rounding ’keeper James Bittner, in a bid to switch the ball on to his favoured left foot Brodie allowed Aaron Cook to make a recovery challenge and Farrell’s follow up effort was also blocked.

Farrell had started the game as an orthodox right-sided midfielder in a 4-4-2 formation, but was pushed further forward towards the end of the half and he managed his side’s first goal attempt soon afterwards, using the outside of his right boot to clear Bittner’s crossbar from 20 yards out.

The service-starved Sodje, however, missed an excellent chance to relieve the tedium in first-half stoppage time.

Jon Bass misjudged Purkiss’ searching diagonal pass, which afforded Sodje with a clear sight of goal. But the 20-year-old striker fired straight at Bittner, who had advanced 15 yards off his line, when a more composed finish would have broken the deadlock.

The Minstermen started the second half in a more positive manner when Brodie stole possession straight from the kick off and drove determinedly into the visitors’ penalty box with Sangare’s last-gasp challenge eventually stopping him in his tracks.

But the home side’s sluggish stupor was still not fully lifted.

Griffin shot over on the turn from eight yards moments later and Ingham dived low to his left to keep out an Andy Sandell effort.

Salisbury then had the ball in the net on 59 minutes and the current confusion over the offside law left nobody in the ground sure as to whether Feeney’s free-kick, deflected past Ingham by Parslow’s outstretched boot, should have been allowed to stand or not.

In a deliberate ploy to unsight Ingham, Salisbury striker Sandell stood five yards’ offside as Feeney shot for goal in a manner familiar to regular Match Of The Day viewers.

Fortunately for City, referee Mark Heywood seemed uninterested in the law’s loopy loopholes.

A rare moment of attacking fluidity just past the hour saw Russell and Farrell combine to feed an overlapping Purkiss, whose cross was headed over by Greaves from eight yards.

But City fell behind on 73 minutes when Ian Herring passed to on-loan Gillingham full-back Sean Clohessy, who was allowed to run with the ball unchallenged by Russell before unleashing a low and firm 25-yard drive that beat Ingham at his near post.

McBreen had entered the action just five minutes earlier and began to make his presence felt when he used his strength to turn makeshift left-back Sandell in the penalty box and tee up a 76th-minute chance for Brodie that was clawed out of the air by Bittner.

Ten minutes later, McBreen’s physical attributes came to the fore again when he somehow bundled the ball and three Salisbury defenders into the net after Purkiss’ floated free-kick to the far post.

The former Scunthorpe striker should have then snatched a flattering victory for the hosts but, with the goal gaping eight yards out, he suffered the indignity of an air shot after Brodie pulled the ball back from the byline following Greaves’ strong tackle on Cook.

Match facts

York City 1 (McBreen 86), Salisbury 1 (Clohessy 73)

City: Michael Ingham 6, Ben Purkiss 7, Danny Parslow 7, David McGurk 8, Mark Robinson 6, Craig Farrell 6, Simon Rusk 6, Mark Greaves 7, Simon Russell 6, Richard Brodie 6, Onome Sodje 6.

Substitutions: Daniel McBreen (for Farrell, 68) 7, Ben Wilkinson (for Rusk, 77), Peter Bore (for Sodje, 78).

Subs not used: Mimms, Kelly.

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

City’s star man: McGurk – commanding performance which showed character following the four goals shipped at Kettering.

Salisbury: James Bittner, Jon Bass, Aaron Cook, Djoumin Sangare (Darrell Clarke, 49), Sean Clohessy, Michael Fowler (Matt Tubbs, 63), Wayne Turk, Ian Herring, Liam Feeney, Andy Sandell, Charlie Griffin (Robert Matthews 80).

Subs not used: Jonathan Davies, Brian Dutton.

Yellow cards: McBreen 83.

Shots on target: York 3 Salisbury 5.

Shots off target: York 4 Salisbury 6.

Corners: York 5 Salisbury 4.

Fouls conceded: York 18 Salisbury 10.

Offsides: York 5 Salisbury 7.

Referee: Mark Heywood (Northwich). Rating: an iffy performance with several Salisbury infringements going unnoticed.

Attendance: 2,280 (81 away fans).

Tackle of the match: A bone- crunching 43rd-minute challenge by last man Robinson on Sandell in the penalty box.

Mistake of the match: Jon Bass’ hesitancy should have been fully punished by Sodje on the stroke of half-time.

City player watch: Danny Parslow

Goal attempts on target: 0

Goal attempts off target: 0

Blocked goal attempts: 0

Passes to own player: 4

Passes to opposition: 5

Crosses to own player: 0

Crosses to opposition: 0

Pass completion rate: 44.4 per cent

Dribbles ball retained: 0

Dribbles ball lost: 0

Dribble completion rate: 0 per cent

Headers: 27

Tackles: 9

Clearances, blocks and interceptions: 6

Fouls won: 1

Fouls conceded: 1

Offsides: 0

Yellow cards: 0

Final summary: Following a nervy display at Kettering, Danny Parslow did little wrong in a solid performance. He kept to the basics, winning 27 headers and making nine tackles. The Welshman also cleared the ball almost as many times as he attempted to pass it.