York boss Stuart Maynard fumes at late offside call which denied win at Halifax

York City boss Stuart Maynard fumes at a late offside call which denied his side a win at Halifax on Saturday afternoon.

After a dominant second-half performance, the Minstermen could only come away with a point after falling behind early to a Will Harris header, with Ollie Pearce levelling in the 85th minute.

Maybard’s side saw a late goal by Mark Kitching disallowed for offside, a decision Maynard called a “guess” after reviewing the replay, believing it was clearly onside.

Another first-half goal by Pearce had also been ruled out for offside, though Maynard couldn’t fully assess that call due to a lack of clear footage.

The result leaves York sitting 7th in the National League, with 27 points from 15 games played, while a place below them is Halifax with 25 points from 16 games.

Stuart Maynard said, per York Press: “We’ve performed really well, the biggest disappointment for me is how we started the game.

“We’ve conceded early on which is frustrating, if that [doesn’t] happen, then I think we win the game comfortably.

“I still think we should win the game comfortably, we’ve had enough chances to probably win two games of football.

“It’s so frustrating, Kitching’s goal at the end that gets disallowed is so clearly onside.

“You can’t guess, and me personally, I believe that when it is that clearly onside, then you’re guessing as the linesman.

“That’s what really frustrating, we’ve dropped two points that we never should have dropped really.

“The performance was that good, but the officials decision which was so clearly onside, is really frustrating.”

On the first half goal chalked off for offside: “You’ve probably got a better angle, but it’s hard to see on the camera because even on the camera the angle isn’t along the line to see where it is.

“The second one, it’s clear as day from the angle we have, he’s clearly onside.

“It’s two goals disallowed, I can’t comment on the first one because we didn’t see it clearly, but it’s two goals disallowed which is a big frustration.

“We’ve got to take the positives from the game, we keep building momentum and it’s another point on the board.

“I believe that today it is two points dropped for us, which is a big frustration.

“We’ve got a cup game now, we’ll go away, work on it, keep trying to improve and get better.”

On the game itself and their opponents: “They are a very good team and I think we’ve made them look ordinary,” he admitted.

“They started the game really well and we said to the group that they are a physical team, they play off the front and have runners.

“I don’t think we got it quite right in the first-half, if you look at the first-half to second-half, I don’t think they got out of their half.

“They had a disallowed goal but other than that, I don’t think they had a kick, they probably crossed the ball twice within the whole of the second-half.

“If you look at the heat map, it was played in their final third for the entire half.

“It just didn’t drop to us, even though we had some really good chances.

“From their goal onwards, I don’t they had another chance, other than the one that their guy [Jamie Cooke] put over.

“That was a really good chance, a ricochet, but other than that I don’t think they had many efforts on our goal.

“We restricted them and I don’t think they many efforts on our unit, we were just so dominant.

“I’d like to say that we’ve probably crossed the ball over 30 times today, which is incredible.”

Halifax boss Adam Lakeland said, per Halifax Courier: “Tough game, I thought we started really well.

“Some of our play in the first-half was really good.

“We were a a bit loose out of possession, I thought we were a bit passive, it was a bit too easy for them to play through our shape.

“Second-half, we struggled to retain the ball, we didn’t show enough composure and that didn’t allow us to stem their waves of attack.

“That saw us sat in a bit and just having to do a lot of defending, a lot of work without the ball, a lot of defending the box.

“Credit to the players for showing good character, resilience, grit. I thought we defended the box well.

“Disappointed with the goal, but pleased with the efforts really.”

On the goal conceded: “It’s an error. I know the lads were saying his hand was pulled, it’s not,” said the Halifax manager.

“It’s an error, but Sam’s had a fantastic game, some of his saves were the Sam Johnson of old so I’m not going to be too critical of him.

“But it’s not a foul, he’s got to hold onto the ball.”

On York: “For all their good play and quality, the number of balls they put in the box that we defended.

“When they have got things on target, Sam’s been equal to everything up to that point, so then to just let a ball go loose from a corner is incredibly frustrating.

“But that’s football.

“You expect that, they’re bringing a quarter of a million pound striker off the bench.

“We’re really stretched at the minute and we’re very limited with what options we have on the bench, so it’s hard for us to make too many positive changes.

“That game is crying out for a David Kawa, somebody with a bit of pace to come on and stretch the pitch, and put the opposition on the back foot, make them drop, which might give you the space to play and get control.

“We just haven’t got that option available to us at the minute.

“We’re working with what we’ve got and that’s a bit frustrating, but I just can’t fault the players.

“It shouldn’t surprise anybody, the character and the grit they’ve shown, because they’ve showed it all season.

“Even early on in the season when there were a lot of people questioning me, there were a lot of people questioning us bringing some young players in, there were people questioning us having lads stepping up from the National League North, and we had some difficult spells in games where we maybe went behind.

“But we’ve showed unbelievable character on numerous occasions to come back and draw or win games, so it doesn’t surprise me seeing that grit and that spirit because I know we’ve got it in abundance.

“That’s probably what makes the goal we’ve conceded that bit more disappointing because it’s come from an error as opposed to a really good bit of play or a banger.

“But we’ve got to take the positives out of it, as we always do, and it shows again that we can be competitive on our day with the best teams in the division.

“But where they were much better than us today was in possession of the ball, and we’ve got to keep working hard to be better.”

On referee Richard Aspinall: “I thought that, as you do find in some of these games with some officials, the bigger club got more of the decisions.

“I thought there were some really poor decisions and I felt there was a hell of a lot more of the contentious ones that went the way of the opposition.

“I do have to give the linesman credit because Will Harris is offside, he didn’t look it at the time but he is, but Cookie’s got to score, he’s got a free header.

“He’s got to hit the target, if he hits the target, he scores. He’s not got a good contact, it’s then hit Will and gone in, and he’s offside.

“They’ve got the one right with the goal for them, because it’s not a foul, despite us appealing for it.

“As for their disallowed goal, I’m not sure because I’ve not had the chance to see it back yet.”