JOHN ASKEY suspects York City were “lulled” by a 12-game unbeaten run after they came unstuck in unlucky number 13.

Fellow National League North play-off hopefuls Boston United came away from the LNER Community Stadium with all three points as Danny Elliott’s strike earned the Pilgrims a deserved win.

City struggled to get going in the first half and were overwhelmed by Boston’s intensity, which morphed into gamesmanship in the second to counter York’s attempted resurgence.

As they did so often in their run – which stretched back to the 1-1 draw against Gateshead in January – York came on strongly at the end, but this time it was not enough to prevent the 1-0 defeat.

“We were probably lulled a little bit in the games we’ve played where we’ve just been able to do enough to win the games,” interim manager Askey said.

“I thought they played quite well tonight and we didn’t respond first half.

“Second half, I thought we were better. We were trying to push for a win and it didn’t break for us.

“We’ve just got to lick our wounds now and move on to the next one.

“It shouldn’t (dent confidence),” he continued. “When you’ve gone on a run like we have, you’re always going to lose one.

“We just need to make sure the next time we go out that we’re better prepared mentally than we were today.

“It should make us more determined to get a result on Saturday.”

The damage was done in the first half. Boston were the better, more threatening team, with Sheffield United youngster Femi Seriki wreaking havoc down the attacking right.

Elliott’s well-taken goal epitomised both the visitors’ assertiveness and City’s timidity in the opening 45 as the attacker was given the time to pick his spot from the edge of the area.

Both he and keeper Marcus Dewhurst were booked in the second half for time-wasting in an effort to tame the York fightback.

“I thought, first half, we weren’t good enough,” Askey said. “We didn’t compete. We’re looking to have the guts to play, and I didn’t think we did that.

“You’ve got to. You’re playing on a lovely pitch, and playing teams like that, you’ve got to go down fighting.

“When you’re on the ball, you’ve got to be aggressive, and I don’t think we were aggressive enough, especially in the first half.”