Saturday saw National League side York City take on Championship outfit Sheffield United as both sides gained valuable minutes in their pre-season preparations.
The Minstermen and the Blades played out a well-contested friendly match that allowed both to give game time to the healthy members of their squads.
York endured a disappointing season last time out, with manager Adam Hinshelwood saving the club from relegation to the National League North.
Himshelwood had been given room to re-shape his squad in a bid to improve on last year’s disappointment. The former Worthing manager has overseen several departures while bringing in a host of new faces this summer in a bid to improve his side’s fortunes.
One of those arrivals, Tyrese Sinclair, opened his side’s account for the season against the Blades. The recent signing from Rochdale broke away from the Baldes’ defence before dinking the ball over goalkeeper Adam Davies.
The midfield trio of Dan Batty, Alex Hunt and Ricky Aguiar combined well in patches and looked comfortable on the ball. New man Ollie Pearce looked full of running up top despite not getting a sighter of goal for himself.
At this point in the season, the main objective is to get up to speed ready for the opening League match and Hinshelwood was pleased with what he saw. He spoke to The Real EFL following yesterday’s encounter.
“Fitness-wise I thought the lads were in a relatively good place and the game was played at an alright tempo for large parts of it and the main thing was to see everybody come through unscathed and ready for more minutes in the week.”
Having been active early in the transfer window, the Minstermen were able to give runouts to several new signings such as Harrison Male, Hunt, Darragh O’Connor and Pearce.
Post-match, we asked if there was likely to be any more movement in the market but the National League opener.
“We are happy with where we are at this stage, we would like to add one or two more if we can but that would be dependent on players moving out now, we need players to move out before we can bring any more in.”
“It’s something we will look at over the next few weeks and we will try, if we can, to get a settled squad ready to go for the new campaign.”
Before his appointment at York City, Adam Hinshelwood had enjoyed a successful spell with Worthing, guiding the club to the National League South. He joined York in a relegation battle and secured their spot in the non-league’s top tier.
Following the disappointment of the previous campaign, we asked what the manager hoped to achieve in his first full season in charge.
“With every season I enter into it’s to improve on the last year. We are definitely a club that wants to be competing higher up the division than we have been.”
“To be a club of this stature and this size to just stay above the dotted in the National League is a disappointment. We know that and we’ve got to build on that and try and take the club up the league if we can.”
Writer’s View
It may have only been a friendly but York looked tidy in possession at points yesterday and the acquisition of Sinclair looks particularly astute.
If Hinshelwood can get last season’s top scorer Dipo Akinyemi and former Worthing goal machine Pearce to strike up a partnership, the goals will come.
Couple that with defensive changes and the club should be looking up the table rather than over their shoulders in the coming campaign.
