Photo by Tom Poole.
York City secured derby victory at the LNER this afternoon with a 4-1 victory over FC Halifax Town.
Halifax were awarded an early corner, which was swung in by Josh Hmami into the path of Jay Turner-Cooke, who went for goal, but his shot was cleared away by the City defence.
City’s first chance of the game also came from a set-piece. Alex Hunt’s quick through ball found Ollie Pearce, who went to chip Sam Johnson but the Halifax keeper did just enough to tip the ball over.
York struck first in this derby fixture as Ollie Banks’ cross from the right bounced all the way through to Josh Stones who pounced onto the ball to poke home into the net.
Halifax nearly had an instant response when Will Harris had space to shoot inside the box, his effort was well blocked by the leg of Alex Hunt.
Alex Newby nearly doubled the lead not long after when he went alone before shooting from distance, only to be denied by Johnson tipping over once more.
The second goal did come though when the ball was fed back to Alex Hunt inside the box who calmly rolled the ball into the bottom right-hand corner to double City’s lead.
The Minstermen extended the lead even further five minutes before the break. Newby down the left pulling the ball back to Ollie Pearce inside the box who turned his effort into the top left-hand corner.
Halifax got one back in the 55th minute when Josh Hmami pounced onto a rebound which had seen The Shaymen have two shots blocked inside the box. Hmami’s shot finding the roof of the net.
City restored the three goal cushion just a minute later when Ollie Banks ran onto a loose ball inside the Halifax box. His shot first time firing past the diving Johnson and into the bottom left-hand corner.
Aj Warburton came close to bringing Halifax back into the game but his shot from just inside the box was well saved by Harrison Male.
There was to be no late goals as the Minstermen banked the 4-1 victory.
York City: Male, Kitching, Hunt, Pearce, Stones, Newby, King, Boateng, Banks, Williams, Johnson.
Subs: Sykes-Kenworthy, Fallowfield, Howe, Brookes, Batty, Hewitt, Grey.
FC Halifax Town: Johnson, Adetoro, Hugill, Hobson, Hmami, Harris, Warburton, Waters, Turner-Cooke, Johnson, Latty-Fairweather.
Subs: Ford, Mills, Bray, Jenkins, Kawa, Morris, Lavery.
Attendance: 7,714(850 away fans).
