Strong defence important for Albion
Central defender Ian Sharps was pleased to come away from Bootham Crescent with a second successive clean sheet since returning to the side after injury and believes that the side laid down a marker in terms of the standard of their defending against one of the form sides in the division at the present time."We put a lot of hard work in today to reach that benchmark. We know that York are a good side but so are we and we had to go out and prove that today." said the commanding centre back.
"It was a little bit tiring towards the end having played two games in four days which wasnt exactly what my calf needed but I got through it and now we have to kick on for another big game next Saturday."
Conditions were tricky for defending and up against a lively, mobile frontman in Michael Coulson meant that the Albion rearguard had to be on their toes but Sharps felt that the defence dealt with the best of what York could throw at them on the day.
"It was a difficult game on a bobbly, bouncy pitch and with a bit of wind making it harder and up against a good team but we played to our strengths and with a little bit more we could have won the game."
"Their front player was tricky but I thought we handled him pretty well throughout the game and that has resulted in us getting another clean sheet."
Sharps was close in the first half to grabbing what would have been just his second goal in Albion colours when a corner kick routine almost saw him sneak a header in at the near post and the big defender admitted it was something that the team had worked on in their preparations for the game.
"We had been practising our corner routines in training this week and I hadnt connected with one all week!" Sharps admitted, "but I got on the end of that one but the keeper has stood in the right place to be fair to him to keep it out."
Many sides travelling to an inform opponent would have set their stall out for a draw but Sharps was adamant that he and his team mates were very much focussed on getting the three points on offer.
"We came here looking for three points today. We werent looking for just a point but at the end of the day we have only got one from the game so we are a bit disappointed. You have got to work as hard as you can to try and get the three points and I dont think you could say there was a lack of effort at all. We havent necessarily got the big name players here so we just have to knuckle down and do what we are good at and see where it takes us."
The game at Bootham Crescent marked the 50th League game in a Brewers shirt for the vastly experienced defender, a spell that has seen him on the losing side just ten times and having secured more than 1.8 points per game but Sharps hopes that despite those impressive stats that more is still to come for him and his team mates at the end of his first full season at the club.
"I have enjoyed my time here immensely so far but hopefully there are even better times to come at the end of the season. I just go out there every week and try to do the best that I can and as a team we try to be consistent and get as many wins as we can.
Between now and the end of the season we have got to try and get as many points as we can. We are still looking above us and the aim this season was to progress from last season and I would say we aren't far away from that at the moment. If we can keep accumulating points week in, week out until the end of the season we will give ourselves every chance of achieving something at the end of it."