STUART McCall won’t get carried away by City’s first Valley Parade league loss in nearly a year.

League Two new boys Harrogate’s televised victory ended a 12-game unbeaten run since Will Atkinson’s late winner for Port Vale against Gary Bowyer last October.

McCall admitted there were too many “fives” in an under-performing display from his side.

But he is not going to panic after their first setback of the new season.

He said: “We’re four games in. It’s not a massive crisis.

“We were beaten by a good, well-organised side. I said previously that I’m expecting them to be in the top half of the table – and I’m sure they will have higher ambitions after putting in performances like that.

“Lads will be honest enough to say there were too many fives there. But likewise, I need to look at myself and whether the system was the right one to go with.

“We’ll analyse the game and speak about it. But we’ve got to take our medicine and look to be better on Saturday.”

Gareth Evans could be a doubt for the weekend visit to Mansfield after coming off at half-time with a tight hamstring. McCall hoped they had caught it in time and the recent signing won’t face a spell on the sidelines like Zeli Ismail.

Evans was replaced by Callum Cooke, who was guilty of missing one of City’s best chances soon after coming on.

Despite being second best for most of the game, McCall felt they wasted some big opportunities.

He added: “You’re never going to score if you don’t hit the target.

“We want Cookey to make late runs like that and get in the box but he knows himself that he should score.

“I’m not lambasting him because it was a good forward run but it was a big opportunity to go ahead. It was at a crucial part of the game.

“It’s the same with Austin (Samuels) at the end. He can hit the ball with his left and right foot but he just snatched at it.

“Although I thought Harrogate were a good side, we did have two or three really good opportunities and didn’t take them.

"Harrogate have been together for two or three years. They are used to winning.

“They’ve got a way to play and have a good spirit in them. Everybody knows their jobs and it’s hard to play through against them.

“When we did break, we made some poor decisions on the ball. It was important to get ahead but we couldn’t manage to do that."

Samuels came on as a second-half substitute for Billy Clarke for his first involvement since joining on a season-long loan from Wolves.

Having scored against City last week for his parent club in the EFL Trophy, he blew his big chance of a debut goal in the closing minutes. But McCall has seen some promising signs from the 19-year-old.

He said: “We played 11 v 11 on Saturday morning in training and he got down the sides and behind a couple of times, which we looked for him to do.

“Obviously, he’ll be better the more he works with us, the same with Bryce Hosannah.

“The lads that didn’t play were in yesterday for a good session and we’ll pick ourselves up.”