York City 0 Bristol Rovers 0: Mildenhall’s defiance terminates York run

The ex-Grimsby and Scunthorpe goalkeeper pulled off great reflex saves to deny York trio Russell Penn, Josh Carson and Keith Lowe to earn the Pirates a draw at Bootham Crescent.

His defiance prevented Nigel Worthington’s men from equalling their best start to a calendar year of four straight victories, but the former Sheffield Wednesday and Leeds United left-back was not too despondent at the final whistle.

He said: “We created more chances than them but their goalkeeper had a fantastic day and stopped two or three shots that looked dead-certs to go in.

“I was very pleased with our performance though. We showed resilience to keep a clean sheet and tried to win the game at the same time.”

Mildenhall dived to his left to keep out Penn’s fierce 12-yard attempt as the hosts dominated a one-sided first half.

The visitors briefly rallied with John-Joe O’Toole having an effort disallowed and Matt Harrold heading against a post, but the rest of the game belonged to the Minstermen.

Mildenhall, though, proved equal to Carson’s bouncing shot on the stroke of half-time and then palmed over Lowe’s header from Coulson’s corner after the break.

Ex-Northern Ireland international Carson also peppered Mildenhall’s goal during the second period to no avail.

But York moved another place up the League Two table into 13th and have now lost just one game in their last 10 matches.

York City: Pope; Oyebanjo, Lowe, McGurk, Davies; Carson, Montrose, Penn (Reed 81), Coulson; Bowman (Jarvis 88), Fletcher. Unused substitutes: Smith, McCombe, Platt, Ingham, Dickinson.

Bristol Rovers: Mildenhall; Smith, Parkes, McChrystal, Brown; Clarke, Lockyer; Harding (Woodards 81), O’Toole, Richards; Harrold (Beardsley 61). Unused substitutes: Clarkson, Norburn, Harrison, Gough, Keary.

Referee: David Webb

York man-of-the-match: Josh Carson.