Photo by Tom Poole
York City snatched all three points in the dying embers of the game against Dagenham & Redbridge to move back to 2nd in the National League.
Tyrese Sinclair took on the first shot of the game from range, but his effort went high and wide over the bar.
The first real chance of the game fell to the Minstermen when Dan Batty swung in a free-kick from the far side looking for a red shirt at the back-post, but Dagenham headed clear.
Batty again was causing problems from a set-piece when his corner went sailing again to the back post, only for the visitors to scramble the ball clear.
Ashley Nathaniel-George fed through a teasing cross from the right-hand side looking for Armstrong in the middle, but it flashed across the face of goal and behind for a corner.
The ball was in the back of the net in the 38th minute, but the referee correctly disallowed it for a handball from Armstrong in the process.
The deadlock was broken after 43 minutes when Tyrese Sinclair jumped highest to nod the ball past Elliot Justham with a header at the back post.
Dagenham came out in the second half firing and got their equaliser in the 51st minute when Josh Umerah leapt above the defence to fire the ball into the roof of the net.
Cameron John had a lively period in the second half when his cross to the near post just evaded Ollie Pearce.
A second cross from John was met this time by Armstrong, but his left-footed shot went wide of Justham’s post.
Arguably the best chance of the second half to note came in the 65th minute when John was teed up on the edge of the six-yard box, but the shot on his weaker foot failed to test Justham.
Dagenham didn’t pose much of a threat in the second half, so when a rare shot from Ryan Hill came in, Harrison Male got down to make an easy stop.
The game took a dramatic twist with 6 minutes to go when Ollie Pearce saw red (a second yellow card), reducing City to ten men.
In the 92nd minute, the Minstermen were handed a golden chance when the referee awarded a penalty. Alex Hunt stepped up to slot away a composed penalty in the dying seconds to hand York the win.
YORK CITY: Male, Howe (C), Sinclair (Luamba 81′), Hunt, Pearce, Nathaniel-George (Richardson 81′), Armstrong (Stones 73′), Batty, John, Felix, Fagan-Walcott.
UNUSED SUBS: Watson, Fallowfield, Aguiar, John-Lewis.
DAG & RED: Justham (C), Francis (Rendall 46′), Eastman, Rees, Umerah (Grego-Cox 70′), Hill (Loupalo-Bi 82′), N’Guessan, Remy, Harrack, Rutherford, Kalambayi
UNUSED SUBS: Harvey, Stephenson, Hessenthaler.
DUTCH BARN ORCHARD VODKA MAN OF THE MATCH, CHOSEN BY DEMON CONVERSIONS: Dan Batty.
ATTENDANCE: 5,331 (111 away fans).
