York City manager Adam Hinshelwood hails match-winner Ollie Pearce following 22nd league goal of season against Pools

The prolific Ollie Pearce's 22nd National League goal of the season was the difference between the two sides. The in-from frontman, who scored 155 goals in 245 games for Worthing before following Hinshelwood to North Yorkshire in the summer, capitalised on a rare Nicky Featherstone mistake five minutes before half time, picking the veteran midfielder's pocket and blasting the ball into the roof of the net to earn his side a vital three points.

While Pools had little to play for other than pride, Saturday's game was a must-win for York, who are hot on the heels of National League leaders Barnet. Dean Brennan's side look like they'll be difficult to catch following a run of 20 league games without defeat but York, who are six points behind the Bees with a game in hand, will want to keep the pressure on their title rivals. With just one automatic promotion place available, the Minstermen will be desperate to avoid the relative lottery of the notoriously unpredictable play-offs.

In truth, there wasn't much to separate the two sides in an end-to-end encounter at the Prestige Group Stadium. Pools huffed and puffed and created a handful of chances, hitting the woodwork in the first half through Luke Charman before substitute Mani Dieseruvwe, who has a decent scoring record against York, missed a golden opportunity to equalise in the second half. The visitors had chances of their own and Pearce missed from close range after the break but his uncharacteristic wastefulness went unpunished thanks to a resolute defensive display, with centre-halves Callum Howe and Malachi Fagan-Walcott in particular impressing.

With Pools left stranded in mid-table, York remain right in the mix for a return to the Football League for the first time since 2016 and Hinshelwood was delighted with his side's determined display.

"It feels like a sweet one for us," he told York's official club website.

"It was a really gritty, battling performance again. To keep a clean sheet was big, it was massive.

"The difference was Ollie Pearce again coming up with a little bit of magic. He had half a chance, and he finds the roof of the net. He worked tirelessly. It's not his type of game to play up against two centre-halves but he moved them about really well and managed to put them under a bit of pressure. When he got his chance he tucked it away, and that was the difference.

"I thought we defended our goal really well today. We had a handful of nervous moments where we had to put our bodies on the line, H ( goalkeeper Harrison Male) came out to claim a couple of crosses as well.

"It was a really important clean sheet and I'm delighted that we just had that extra little bit of quality on the day."