ADAM HINSHELWOOD was ‘really happy’ after seeing a different side of York City in their 1-0 win over Gateshead.

Marvin Armstrong’s opener was the only difference between the two sides, as York leapfrogged Barnet and took back top spot in the National League.

Hinshelwood was aware that the result could have been more emphatic, with missed chances from Dipo Akinyemi and Ollie Pearce in the second-half, but was impressed by the work rate his side showed to battle for three points against Gateshead.

“I’m really happy with that performance, we showed that not only we can play football and that we are a good footballing side, but we can mix that,” Hinshelwood enthused.

“We got grit, we got determination, we kept a clean sheet and even if the strikers had a bit of an off day, like they did today, we know that we’ve got so much behind them and a good backline to keep clean sheets.

“That’s vitally important.

“Sometimes when you drop down the levels and try to have footballers in the team, you can get both where you can score goals other ways.

“I thought it was a bit of an off day, we could have made it a bit more emphatic as the better of the chances fell to us.

“They are still a very good side and you’ve got to pay them the upmost respect, at any moment you can feel as if they can break on you with the pace and power that they have got on their side.

“I though it was a really good day all around, with the chances we slightly shaved it a little bit and we deserved the three points.

“It’s nice to be able to score from set-pieces. It’s so important to have.

“We’ve started to introduce the set-piece game back before games now and put it into good areas, to get lads to get used to attacking the ball.”

Hinshelwood made a change at half-time that saw Akineymi and Pearce switch positions, with the former moving centrally, and the latter moving to the left-wing.

It was a move which mainly worked as Akinyemi managed to find himself through on goal twice from that position, and Pearce once, even if they were unable to beat goalkeeper Owen Mason from those chances.

It’s a change which Hinshelwood believes benefitted the Minstermen in the second-half, and considered whether Pearce had felt ‘disgruntled’ in an unorthodox role.

“I just thought that they were going to be a little bit more aggressive and a little bit more man to man, so it was just about moving them around and leaving Dipo up with the centre-back.

“We thought that he could do what he had done, and on another day he would have hit the back of the net.

“It didn’t quite fall for him, and when Ollie goes through at the end then we’re expecting to be going back to the centre with the form that he’s in.

“Whether he got a little bit disgruntled because he moved to the left or not, I don’t know, it’s something he’s got to get used to and he can’t let it affect his game.

“In the main, it was a really good performance and it’s a credit to the whole squad, Ryan Fallowfield came on and made some really important tackles and we have Len [Lenell John-Lewis] that can come on and change it.

“I thought that as a squad, it was a good performance.”

The three points, and clean sheet, has helped City return to the summit in the National League after briefly being knocked off of their perch by Barnet, due to York’s fixture with Oldham Athletic being postponed.

Hinshelwood labelled the remained of City’s fixture list as ‘22 cup finals’, with the boss pleased to have passed the 50 point mark.

Hinshelwood reacted: “It’s going to sound cliché but we’ve got 22 cup finals to look forward to.

“I think we’ve got over the 50 point mark now with today’s win so that’s really pleasing, and like I say we want to attack this second-half of the season and be better than we were in the first-half.

“It’s no easy task to do so, but it’s a nice challenge for us to and emulate.

“That’s our target, and our challenge.”