Source: FOOTYMAD
Foyle thrilled at 'massive' victory
York City boss Martin Foyle was thrilled at what he labelled as a 'massive' victory against promotion rivals Mansfield Town at Field Mill. Courtney Pitt scored the winner for the visitors just after the hour before leading goalscorer Richard Brodie missed a chance to add to it when his penalty was saved by Alan Marriott. "It was important because it was a game we didn't want to lose tonight," Foyle told BBC Radio York. "Yes we've had a poor run. I wouldn't say we've played that badly ... but tonight was a massive three points. But the most pleasing thing, I thought we played some fantastic football. We dominated from start to finish and unfortunately we never got the second goal." The visitors were finally rewarded when Pitt claimed his first goal for the club with a tremendous strike early in the second period, although the quality he displayed didn't surprise his manager. Midfielder Neil Barrett returned for York"Well he's got that in his locker," continued Foyle. "We decided to ... not to 'drop' Adam [Smith], I wanted to change because I wanted to put 'Clarkey' [Jamie Clarke] in front of their two big boys up front. I knew we'd have chance to play, I knew their crowd would be on their back and it was nice that everything came to fruition. So I was really pleased with the players. But they worked hard ... but actually, I thought we looked a little more nastier tonight, which I felt hasn't been there in recent games."The Minstermen then wasted a chance to add a second goal a couple of minutes later when a foul on Pitt allowed ace marksman Brodie the opportunity to double their lead from the penalty spot. However, the Gateshead-born forward missed for the first time this season. But Foyle wasn't unduly concerned over his rare indiscretion from twelve-yards."Not worried one bit," said Foyle. "Whether we've won, drawn ... he's been fantastic. He's decided to go that way again. There's only one corner you can go, left or right and the keeper's 50/50. A lot of pressure on him because he's had a little bit of a lean spell in terms of his quality. But he ran his heart out running into the channels towards the end there and that's what we need."It was important that we could just probably push Mansfield out of the equation now. But I'm not going to get too carried away. The first thing out of these two fixtures [Mansfield, Wimbledon] was to get three points and anything on top was a bonus. But now you've got three you're looking for six." York's efforts were all the more commendable as they had three leading midfield players ruled out, although they were boosted by the return of the always dependable Neil Barrett."Yes, we were very lucky with Neil ... it was sciatica," added Foyle. "He pulled up on Friday and he came to Altrincham, but I didn't want to risk him. Sciatica is a funny thing. People think it's a hamstring and it might not be. Chris Carruthers is running, Alex [Lawless] is running, so if we can get past these next two games, hopefully I'll have a fully fit squad."
