JON PARKIN claimed his 14th goal of the season as York City battled their way to a 1-1 draw with Kidderminster Harriers.

Kidderminster opened the scoring midway through the first half as Ryan Croasdale received Andre Brown’s pass and found the bottom corner.

But York levelled shortly before the interval as Parkin curled home an excellent free-kick from 25 yards.

The 35-year-old striker has now scored 29 goals during the calendar year, and York boss Martin Gray has been delighted with his input since he took over at Bootham Crescent.

“It was a very skilful free-kick as he saw where their wall was and put good pace on his shot,” said Gray. “We practised free-kicks on Friday and he did exactly the same four times out of five, so it shows that what you work on in training pays off.

“He’s such an influential figure for the club, crowd and team. His goal stats are impressive at any level and, fair play to him at 35 years old.

“His all-round game was very good as well. He won his headers and his build-up play was very good. He also had one chance and one goal, which from a manager’s point of view, is what you judge forwards on.”

The result leaves York in sixth position in the National League table, and while Kidderminster are six places below them, Gray was still reasonably pleased with his players’ efforts even though they failed to record a single shot on target in the second half.

“The opposition were very good, but we dug in for a really important point and hopefully we will look back at it as a good points at the end of the season,” he said. “It’s something to build on.

“You can’t press against teams for 90 minutes at whatever level of the game, but you can keep a good shape and make sure you are difficult to break down.”

York: Bartlett; Law, Bencherif, Parslow, Whittle; Connolly (Morgan-Smith 59), Rowe, Moke, Newton; Parkin, Martin (Ferguson 59).