York City goalkeeper Ethan Ross has been an ever-present between the sticks in the Vanarama National League this season, but was recently forced to  miss his first game due to injury.

During the lead-up to Oldham's first goal in a 2-0 win over the Minstermen, Ross appeared to drop the ball after taking a kick to the head.

Although taking full responsibility for the opener, and eager to continue the match, safety measures meant he had to make way and allow new signing Maison Campbell to make his debut.

In line with the concussion protocols, it is a 10 day minimum suspension, meaning Ross would miss out on Saturday's crucial home game against Maidenhead.

  • "Frustrating" watch for Ross

York would go on to fall to a second consecutive defeat, losing 2-1. The stopper on loan from Stockport, tried his hand at co-commentary instead, and also gave his post-match thoughts to Jorvik Radio.

"I just don't think we really got going to be honest.

"It's one of them, where after we scored the goal, it would have been nice to create a few more clear-cut chances, but I think we weren't able to do that, because of the good defending from Maidenhead, and they've done really well to kill the game in their moments, and killing the momentum that we had," Ross added.

Embed from Getty Images

"It's a real frustrating day at the office."

With David Webb's first-choice 'keeper ruled out, his best option was to recall York-born Ryan Whitley from his loan at Boston.

Despite not playing a game for the Pilgrims due to postponements, Whitley had also not started a league game for the Minstermen since 2019, so it was set to be a big day for him.

Conceding two goals which he couldn't do a great deal about, the 22-year-old had a fairly solid game between the sticks, said Ross: "(Ryan) was steady, it's never nice conceding goals, it's just one of them things.

"Indirect free kicks are a hard one to deal with, there's no right or wrong way to set them up, but Ryan had a good steady game, and hopefully he can take some confidence from it."

  • Return for Southend away

York City have a tough week arriving, which begins on Saturday at Southend, a home game against Solihull on the Tuesday, then another trip down to Southend on the following Saturday.

Ross is hoping to be back for the initial away day to face the Blues, and help to grind out a much-needed positive result.

"I'm hoping to be back training next week. With the protocols, it's all down to the physio staff really, but I'll be having to do that.

"I'm going in for a test in a moment, so I'll be getting all that done and hopefully be cracking on with training next week."

  • Mood in camp

Following the home defeat, that had fans protesting against the ownership of the club, it took the players a far more lengthy time than usual to emerge from the changing rooms, bringing on speculation from supporters.

Ross cleared things up, admitting the mood has, "been good all season to be honest, there doesn't seem to be any signs of low confidence, or anything like that.

"At the moment for us, it's just not clicking, but we're working hard to make sure it does soon."