With one game to play, City needed to win at Halifax and hope that Hartlepool got a result against league-leaders Macclesfield.
Though City took three points from the Shay with a 3-1 win, Macclesfield won by the same scoreline against Hartlepool, so the Silkmen take the Avon Insurance Division 3 title.
Theo Whitmore, Adrian Caceres and Gary Bradshaw found the net for City after the Shaymen had taken a first half lead.