YORK CITY boss Gary Mills says he was “hurt” by his side’s performance in the disappointing defeat to Southport on Tuesday night.
Mills returned to take charge of the Minstermen two weeks ago after leaving their league rivals Wrexham, replacing Jackie McNamara.
The club’s double-winning boss has yet to taste victory since his return and the Minstermen were well beaten by fellow strugglers Southport on Tuesday.
The 2-0 defeat at Haig Avenue leaves Mills’ side in 19th and just a point above the relegation places following their drop from League Two last season.
And Mills was clearly frustrated after the final whistle, confirming that he will be bringing players in to try and turn things around.
“It hurts me, it hurts to stand and watch. The first half wasn’t too bad, the shape was alright but second-half was terrible,” Mills told BBC Radio York. “There’s a few words you could use so I’m hurting at the moment.
“To watch my York City side play like that hurts me. I need the fans to know I’m going to sort it because we can’t play like that and expect to win football matches. The chairman’s brought me here to sort it and I’m going to sort it.
“I’ve been here a week now and in the three games seen things that I know has got to be sorted. I need to bring some players in that first of all are good enough to play at this level – and certainly play as though they want to be winners.
“It’s never an easy time straight after the game to talk because there’s a lot of things I want to say. But I’m not hiding the fact that there’s work to do, a lot of work to do, a hell of a lot of work to do. But I will do it and I will sort it.”
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Mills was also shocked by his players’ lack of fitness and says it’s “hard to believe” that some of his squad “didn’t look as if they knew what they were doing”.
“I’ve come into a club and we talk about fitness coaches and stuff and half of them don’t look fit,” he added. “The players don’t look fit, they don’t look sharp, they don’t look strong enough. I just find it unbelievable at this stage of the season that that’s the case.
“It’s a 95 minute game, it’s not about five, ten minutes. The way we started the second-half was horrendous and it put us on our backfoot straight away.
“I’m angry when I stand here now and I was angry standing watching some players that just didn’t look as if they knew what they were doing at times – and that’s hard to believe.
“But I keep saying it and I’ll repeat again, I’ll sort it and I think the fans need to know that because they’ve seen this all season and they need to know I’ve come here to do that – and I’ve got to do it.”
