City boss learns from Wycombe defeat and reassesses officiating

ADAM HINSHELWOOD was able to learn a lot from York City’s Emirates FA Cup exit to Wycombe Wanderers last Saturday, which was also the Minstermen’s first defeat in over two months of competitive football.

York had posed themselves against League One promotion-hopefuls Wycombe in the FA Cup first round, with Hinshelwood’s side deemed as underdogs against a team that have started their campaign in the third tier impressively so far.

Hinshelwood was pleased with the effort levels from his players and revealed that it was the most that Wycombe had ran since a pre-season match against Premier League side Aston Villa, whilst the City boss was also able to learn a lot from his team against worthy opponents.

“We knew all about that going into the game, that they score a lot of goals, they have pace and power and the timing of their runs was really good," Hinshelwood explained.

“It’s something that we’re probably not used to coming up against, but it was a great game for us to learn about where we are as well.

“We don’t want to come off too many times this season and say that we gave a good account of ourselves, when you’re up against good opposition though, we certainly did that.

“Looking at the way that the fixtures have gone for them, they’ve got Wealdstone away which is a very tricky game.

“We’re bitterly disappointed that we couldn’t extend the game, because the longer the game went on I thought that we came into it.

“Our SEC guy spoke to their one and it was the most that they had run since Aston Villa in pre-season, so it’s a testament to us.

“It was a really good game and I thought that we grew into the game, and really caused them some problems.”

Hinshelwood have revealed his frustration towards the referee in his post-match interviewing, feeling as if York should have been awarded a penalty for an alleged shove into the back of Tyrese Sinclair late on.

The City boss was also invigorated with the referee for awarding a free-kick to Wycombe that led to Luke Leahy’s second goal of the afternoon, reflecting on his previous comments made about the officiating.

Hinshelwood added: “I think it was soft, was the free-kick.

“The penalty, I can see why it was given, I think that Callum Howe doesn’t really give a clear indication that he was there as well, because you can’t really see it on the angle that I’ve seen.

“I think Malachi’s one is soft, and if he is giving soft free-kicks like that, then the two arm push into the back of Ty should be a penalty, in my opinion.

“We’re not going to be sour grapes, they were very clinical and we looked at how we can deal with the free-kick, whether we should jump or put someone beneath it to stop the ball going under the wall.

“We took what we could from the game, there were lots of positives but some stuff for us to improve on as well."

Wycombe had taken the lead via Leahy from the penalty spot, before Gideon Kodua doubled the hosts’ advantage early on.

Sinclair pulled York back into the match with a spectacular strike, before Leahy re-established Wycombe’s two goal advantage with a free-kick.

Joe Felix’s late consolation wasn’t enough to earn extra-time for York, despite late pressure from the Minstermen.

York City exited out of the FA Cup to Wycombe, as Tyrese Sinclair curls home an unstoppable strike. (Image: Tom Poole) It was Leahy’s 57th minute free-kick that Hinshelwood learned the most from, with City potentially getting their instructions wrong on how the wall should have been set-up against a set-piece specialist like Leahy.

“It was a very good free-kick but we look it and see how we can improve.

“It was mainly about having Malachi and Callum, as the two biggest players, in the middle of the wall and then allowing them to jump.

“If we had our biggest players and allowed them to jump, then we definitely would have stopped it or have given ourselves a better chance.

“I think that Harrison [Male] told them not to jump, so some of them jumped and some of them didn’t, and it ended up going in where Luca [Thomas] hasn’t jumped.

“This is what it’s all about, these games, it was a great test and we probably learn more when we get punished like that.

“We’ll definitely learn a lot from it, I’m still a bit disappointed that we couldn’t quite take the game to extra time, but there’s lots for us to improve on and put right on Saturday.”