YORK CITY will head into the final weekend of the National League season knowing they have to claim at least a point against play-offs bound Forest Green to have any chance of avoiding the drop.

The Minstermen find themselves occupying the final relegation position, one point adrift of safety, after they could only manage a 1-1 draw at Woking in their penultimate fixture.

Lose at home to Forest Green on Saturday, and they will be relegated. A draw would be sufficient to save them if Guiseley were to lose their final fixture against Solihull Moors, while a victory would keep York in the Conference provided Torquay and Guiseley did not both win.

Their fate is not in their own hands, but boss Gary Mills insists he could not have asked for any more from his players since the turn of the year.

York looked dead and buried when Mills took over from Jackie McNamara in mid-October, and while they have been unable to haul themselves away from the bottom four in the six months since, their performances have undoubtedly improved.

“This group of players have been unbelievable since January 1,” said Mills.  “I couldn’t have asked anything more from them.

“They have given absolutely everything and I don’t have to tell people what a mess we were in. It was an absolutely diabolical mess.

“When we got out of the bottom four, expectations then rose, but it’s more about what we’ve been doing since the start of the season and that’s why we’re in the situation we are in.

“But we have a strong group now who will fight to the very end and we’ve got to hope that’s enough because I thought they were immense at Woking.

“This is my football club and I love it. We’ve lost our two last home games, but I’d rather be playing at Bootham Crescent (this) weekend, because I know our fantastic supporters will turn out, as they always do.”

York’s position would have been even worse had they lost on Saturday, and that eventuality looked likely when Gozie Ugwu scored a 66th-minute penalty for Woking after Sean Newton was penalised for tugging Delano Sam-Yorke’s shirt.

The Minstermen equalised with 15 minutes left, with Jon Parkin fired home from ten yards after a long throw caused confusion in the Woking defence.

Vadaine Oliver almost claimed a York winner with one minutes left, but his low shot was saved by Michael Poke.

York: Loach, Whittle (Muggleton 70), Parslow, Hall, Newton, Bencherif, Holmes, Heslop, Morgan-Smith (Moke 90), Parkin, Oliver.