York City were dismantled 4-1 away from home at Ebbsfleet United in the Vanarama National League on Saturday afternoon.
Ebbsfleet carved open the first real chances of the game after five minutes when Whitley denied Craig Tanner before Dominic Poleon’s effort deflected out for a corner.
The resultant corner was tipped away by ‘keeper Ryan Whitley as it swung towards his sticks.
Franklin Domi struck his effort just shy of the post two minutes later, after working an opening just outside the box, as Ebbsfleet continued to threaten for an early opener.
City kicked into gear in the 11th minute with some neat work down the right through Maziar Kouhyar who crossed, with the ball eventually finding Dan Batty. The following cross from the holding midfielder goes through to the far post where Zanda Sibiza connects to glance a header wide.
Thierry Latty-Fairweather made great strides down the left-hand flank in the 16th minute to beat his man and win City a corner, but the resulting set-piece was nullified by the Fleets.
Whitley was called into action again two minutes later after Tanner broke the offside trap down the left-hand side before a hard effort was beat away.
The hosts took the lead in the 19th minute from the resulting corner after it was played short to Omari Sterling-James at the edge who snuck his bending effort into the far side of Whitley’s net.
City got an equaliser on the break in the 28th minute when a long-ball over from Batty was met by Dipo Akinyemi, who used his body to beat off the Ebbsfleet defender, before squaring to Sibiza on the edge of the area who lashed it home.
The Minstermen were on the break again in the 32nd minute through Kai Kennedy who wormed his way through the Fleets’ backline before laying off to Batty, whose hard drilled shot pinged off the Ebbsfleet man.
Domi gave the hosts the lead again in the 41st minute after being found long by the Ebbsfleet man down the left, he drove inwards at the Minstermen defence, who fall for the dummy, before dispatching high into the far side of the net.
Whitley’s acrobatic efforts stopped the Fleets from grabbing a third before half-time, getting up high to beat away a looping left-footed strike by Domi.
Ebbsfleet came out flying in the second interval when Craig Tanner’s hard effort from a handful of yards out was too much for the Minstermen shot stopper.
The hosts continued to push further in the 55th minute after working the ball down the right and driving inwards, only to strike into the side-netting.
City struck the crossbar in the 69th minute when Kennedy connected onto a ball to loop it goal-bound, just clipping the top of the up-right.
Ebbsfleet added their third on the turn of the half in the 46th minute as Tanner’s shot from a handful of yards out was too powerful for Whitley.
A fourth looked to be on the cards for the hosts through Poleon who raced through thinking he had evaded the offside trap, but the linesman’s late raiser chalked it off.
It arrived deep into the second half as Poleon raced through the backline to latch onto a longball before powerfully executing through the middle of Whitley’s net.
EBBSFLEET: Cousins, O’Neill, Martin, Wright, Sterling-James (71’ Odokonyero), Tanner (77’ Clifford), Poleon, Domi, Solly, Chapman Amoo (60’ McQueen).
SUBS NOT USED: Cisse, Edser.
YORK CITY: Whitley, Fallowfield, Cordner, McLaughlin, Akinyemi, Kouhyar (59’ Dyson), Howe, Batty (59’ Castro), Kennedy, Siziba (65’ Hancox), Latty-Fairweather.
SUBS NOT USED: Watson, Stott.
ATTENDANCE: 1,724 (228 York Supporters).
IMAGES: Adam Davy
