The Minstermen continued their unbeaten start to pre-season with a resounding win over League Two outfit and local rivals Doncaster Rovers. City looked in control throughout, even after losing Thierry Latty-Fairweather to a red card in the 69th minute — the result never looked to be in doubt.
Staff Writer Sammi Minion was in attendance.
Almost two thousand City supporters poured into the LNER Community Stadium on the showery Tuesday evening and were treated to an electric performance that helped them forget all about the dreary weather. Mikey Morton’s side quickly warmed up their loyal support as the Minstermen came roaring out the blocks with a flurry of early chances. It’s encouraging to see the progressive play style that gave York so much joy in last week’s 4-1 win over Garforth Town brought into action against EFL opposition. York took the game to Doncaster Rovers, and the pressure began to tell from the 16th minute onward.
Ryan Fallowfield exposed the insecurity at the heart of Rovers’ backline as he expertly won the ball back high up the pitch and simultaneously played Cedric Main through on goal. The new recruit was only prevented from breaking the deadlock by the feet of Ian Lawlor in the Doncaster net. York continued to knock on the door and were almost rewarded eight minutes later, this time from a corner and one of Michael ‘Ducky’ Duckworth’s lightning deliveries. Adam Crookes connected with it and saw a header go through a flurry of opposition players and land agonisingly wide of Lawlor’s goal.
The rest of the first half continued in similar fashion, although there were a couple of nervous moments as Morton’s side continued to test out their policy of playing out from the back. Fortunately the calming presence of David Stockdake, City’s Head of Recruitment and first-team keeper, was there to clean up any teething problems. It was in the second half that the home side really got going, after a host of changes around the 58th minute they finally broke the deadlock in the 62nd. The goal came about through another delicious Duckworth delivery, this time met with a purposeful header from Maziar Kouhyar, surprisingly one of City’s shorter attacking players, who headed home to put the Minstermen 1-0 up.
York’s comfortable position was completely disrupted just six minutes later. To the complete surprise of everyone in the ground, referee Marc Edwards opted to show Latty-Fairweather a second yellow card for a tired challenge. Considering the context of the game, it only being a friendly in the final lead up to one off York’s biggest seasons in years; and the stakes, the full-back will now be suspended for City’s opening National League fixture, the sending off will be the cause of huge frustration for Mikey Morton. The City support did their best to leave an impression on Mr Edwards in return, who certainly won’t forget his evening at the LNER Community Stadium in a hurry. The South Stand responded in typical style to the sending off, by starting a chant of ‘you’re not fit to referee’ that went on to echo throughout the ground. Surprisingly the York players demonstrated more composure than their loyal supporters and appeared unfazed by the red card, strictly sticking to a disciplined gameplan.
The ten men used their composure to grow into the game and should have doubled their lead in the 72nd minute when awarded a free kick only 25 yards from goal. Duckworth took on the challenge with aplomb, launching a superb curling effort towards goal, only to be denied by the woodwork. The remaining eighteen minutes passed uneventfully as the home side held on to their slender advantage well even if Doncaster did begin to edge closer to an equaliser. That pressure culminated in a brilliant chance to strike back with only thirteen minutes to play. Luke Molyneux made a run through the centre of York’s two centre halves before playing in Tyler Roberts, but the substitute forward ballooned his effort well over the bar from a tight angle.
The Minstermen grasped back control afterward and managed to close out the game without too much disruption. This was up until referee Marc Edwards, clearly intent on making a name for himself, somewhat outlandishly elected to add on six minutes of added time. Perhaps this was to cater for the time wasted through his own rash decision to send off Latty-Fairweather.
Mikey Morton seemed far from pleased when interviewed by BBC York after full time, he added some choice words about the referee’s performance: “That was shocking [the sending off] it was really frustrating [and then] he goes and adds nine minutes on as well, it’s not a world cup final.” (Sic).
The added time did make for an unnecessarily nervous end to proceedings, something supporters will hope is anything but a sign of things to come. However to have won in those circumstances should come as a real marker of progress and City are yet to unbox their most formidable new weapon, former Scottish Championship player of the season and new signing Dipo Akinyemi. Fans are sure to see him in action soon, there’s still four more friendlies to play before the season gets under way, including a trip to League Two side Accrington Stanley before York kick off their National League campaign against Wealdstone on August 5th.
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