Manager Martin Gray has described his hardest weekend in management following the 1-0 defeat at ten-man relegation-threatened Gainsborough Trinity on Saturday.
It marked a third successive loss for his side and left their own play-off hopes in tatters and realistically only remote at best.
The Minstermen have just three games remaining and are no longer occupying a top-seven position, while their immediate rivals still have at least a couple of matches in hand.
“It’s been the hardest weekend I’ve had in management over the last six years,” Gray admitted to BBC Radio York. “It’s something I never want to experience again.
“I spent most of yesterday [Sunday] on the phone speaking to lots of people within the game,” he revealed. “People who have been through similar and far worse experiences. It’s great to see the support that you have and people believe in what you’re doing.
“My win ratio at my previous club [Darlington] was 75%. It’s something like 45% here and we need to get that back up. We’re judged on winning games and have got to have that winning mentality – that’s all that it’s about.”
Meanwhile, although on loan Middlesbrough midfielder Alex Pattison appears set to miss Tuesday evening’s visit to FC United of Manchester, there was better news regarding a couple of other attacking players.
“I think [Alex] Pattison will possibly be struggling,” Gray conceded. “But that’s the only one at this moment in time. We’ll wait and see but it looks like he’ll definitely be out for tomorrow night.
“Alex Kempster has got a great chance [of playing]. He’s in there [training] this morning so I’m hoping that he gets himself ready for tomorrow night. Louis Almond should also be back in the squad, so it’s good we’ve got players coming back.”
