Image by Tom Poole
The Minstermen lost 2-0 against Barnet at The Hive in the Vanarama National League on Saturday afternoon.
A Callum Stead brace sent City back to North Yorkshire empty handed, as Barnet took all three points.
Neal Ardley welcomed back Dipo Akinyemi following injury, as well as hand loanee Alex Hunt his Minstermen debut. Adam Crookes also came in the side which saw Paddy McLaughlin, Billy Chadwick and Charlie Allen drop to the bench.
City struggled to get a foot into the game for the vast majority of the first half, being pinned in mostly by a Barnet side who controlled the half.
Adam Crookes threw himself at an 8th minute effort to deny Barnet an early chance on goal.
George Sykes-Kenworthy produced a low-diving save in the 22nd minute to deny Gatlin O’Donkor an opener from close range.
Barnet did however get their opener five minutes later when Callum Stead’s slicing run gave him the time and space to slot his shot low past Sykes-Kenworthy’s left-hand side.
Dipo Akinyemi looked to have sparked a rare counter-attack in the 43rd minute, sliding past his man on the right-hand flank, but his loose pass to Dan Batty.
A double substitution at the interval introduced Charlie Allen and Lenell John-Lewis to the game.
Allen looked to cause an immediate change, getting in behind but slicing his tame cross into Josh Keeley.
John-Lewis was next up in the 51st minute to try and get City back into the game, forcing his header from the centre of the area wide in the end.
Barnet put themselves further in control of the tie in the 61st minute when Stead doubled his and Barnet’s tally to 2-0.
A fizzing effort from Akinyemi was sent towards Keeley’s right-hand post in the 69th minute, with the ‘keeper drawing a stinging save.
Back-to-back corners were racked up for City in the 83rd as we continued to claw back into the affair, but neither drew a good chance.
Akinyemi hit back-to-back efforts in the 86th minute, firstly from a free-kick which went into the wall, before a second effort drilled through for a save.
A big chance to go into added time applying pressure was squandered two minutes later when Akinyemi ballooned a one-on-one from close range.
BARNET: Keeley, Okimo, Stead, Freeman (90+5’ Matejko), Pritchard ©, Hartigan, O’Donkor (84’ Armstrong), Stevens, Thompson, Cropper (84’ Wynter), Brunt.
UNUSED SUBS: Walker, Coker.
YORK CITY: Sykes-Kenworthy, Fallowfield © (65’ Duckworth), Crookes, Davies, Akinyemi, Howe, Batty, Amos (46’ Allen), Hunt (46’ John-Lewis), Woodyard, Smith.
UNUSED SUBS: McLaughlin, Chadwick.
ATTENDANCE: 2,187 (530 York City supporters)