Photo by Tom Poole
The Minstermen returned to winning form on Saturday afternoon with an Ollie Pearce penalty securing the points for City down at Yeovil.
Manager Adam Hinshelwood made two alterations to his starting eleven, replacing Jeff King and Ashley Nathaniel-George with the duo of Josh Stones and Cameron John.
York began the game with most of the possession, a long-ball forward looking for Ollie Pearce in the opening few minutes was well cut out by Dom Bernard who regained possession back for the hosts.
The opening 20 minutes in this contest was starved of chances with both teams defending the ball well. Cam John denied Marcel Lavinier with a great challenge to win the ball back from a promising Yeovil run.
Junior Luamba injected some pace into a York attack when he collected the ball inside his own half before running the length of the field but his final ball looking for Josh Stones just evaded the forward as it rolled out for a goal-kick.
A York cross into the box was flicked on by Lewis Richardson before a scramble on the edge of the six-yard box saw the hosts awarded a free-kick.
The best chance of the first half came when Stones got on the end of a ball forward before driving towards goal. The forward cut the ball onto his left-foot from inside the box but Charlie Cooper put in a fantastic block to deny city the opener.
Yeovil registered the first shot of the second half when Brett McGavin went for an audacious shot on the volley but his effort flew high over the goal.
The Minstermen were handed a golden chance to break the deadlock on 56 minutes when Joe Felix was brought down in the box by Kyle Ferguson. Pearce stepped up and slotted the ball down the middle of the goal, giving York the lead.
We nearly saw one of the goals of the season almost straight after when Callum Howe’s header inside the box was met by the bicycle kick of substitute Tyrese Sinclair but his audacious shot was tipped over by Aidan Stone.
Yeovil were still yet to test Harrison Male in the York net in the late stages of the second half. Their best chance fell to Ciaran McGuckin who from a free header inside the city box could only find the stand behind the goal.
City managed to hold out for the remainder to claim an important three points, keeping us second in the Vanarama National League ahead of next Saturday’s trip to Braintree Town (3pm kick off).
YEOVIL TOWN: Stone, Whittle (Greenslade 88′), Cousin-Dawson, Nouble, McGavin (Wilson 78′), Lo-Everton, Sims (McLean 71′), Cooper, Ferguson, Lavinier (McGuckin 62′), Bernard.
UNUSED SUBS: Gould, Clarke, Terry.
YORK CITY: Male, Howe, Hunt (Fallowfield 76′), Pearce, Richardson (Sinclair 46′), Batty, John (Crookes 62′), Felix, Stones (John-Lewis 77′), Fagan-Walcott, Luamba (Chadwick 83′).
UNUSED SUBS: Watson, Nathaniel-George.
ATTENDANCE: 2862 (277 away).
