Photo by Tom Poole
York City emphatically returned to winning ways on Tuesday evening with a 2-0 triumph at Oldham Athletic.
Malachi Fagan-Walcott opened the scoring, staying alert for the rebound after a free kick came back off the post.
Seven minutes before the break, Ollie Pearce doubled the advantage with a powerful half-volley that was too fierce for Mark Hudson to keep out.
Adam Hinshelwood made three changes from Saturday’s defeat to Sutton, with Dipo Akinyemi absent through injury, plus Ricky Aguiar and Josh Stones dropped to the bench.
Ashley Nathaniel-George, Cameron John, and Tyrese Sinclair all came in to start, while youngsters George Grumley and Alex Hernandez earned their first-ever inclusions in a Vanarama National League squad.
It began as a tight affair, with neither side really wanting to take any early risks.
The first opportunity came from a Dan Batty free kick eight minutes in, with Fagan-Walcott heading wide at the back stick.
14 minutes later, Sinclair won a free kick after spinning his man and darting forward on an adventurous run towards the penalty box before he was brought down.
Alex Hunt stood over the set-piece and aimed for the top left corner, instead hitting the post, but Fagan-Walcott was there to pounce and tap home.
It wasn’t too long before City had their second on 38 minutes – we demonstrated some excellent build-up play down the right hand side.
The ball worked its way to Joe Felix, who picked out Ollie Pearce in the box; the striker simply controlled the ball and powered into the back of the net with a half-volley, which Hudson got a glove to, but stood little chance of denying the rocket.
Oldham were yet to grow into the game, and they attempted to sneak back in before the break, but failed to do so. Manny Monthe struck into the side netting from the edge after pinball in the mixer.
Therefore Hinshelwood’s men went into half-time two goals up, the opposite to what had happened three days prior.
The second half kicked off with a quick chance for the Latics – Jordan Rossiter tried his luck with a bold shot from range, but managed to divert it well wide of the target.
A key talking point in this fixture occurred in the 54th minute, as a blue shirt lofted a cross towards Mike Fondop, whose bullet header at the back post looked almost destined to cross the line, but Harrison Male came to the rescue with an unbelievable finger tip save to push the effort against the bar.
The hosts continued to push for that goal that would halve the deficit, and still failed, this time through striker James Norwood, who drove a shot across the face and wide of goal.
A rare chance in the second 45 for York came twelve minutes from time as Sinclair received the ball on the left, cut infield and shot low straight at the ‘keeper.
Felix went close almost ten minutes later, swinging a dangerous ball just clear of the far post.
U19 captain George Grumley was introduced to the action in injury time, making his senior debut.
Substitute Lenell John-Lewis thought he has made it three in the 95th minute, but after lobbing Hudson, a glance over to the linesman with his flag up meant celebrations were put on hold until that final whistle.
OLDHAM ATHLETIC: Hudson, Ogle, Kitching (76’ Leake), Pett, Monthe, Lundstram, Rossiter, Raglan ©, Caprice (61’ Kay), Reid (45’ Fondop), Norwood (68’ Waters).
UNUSED SUBS: Dennis, Garner, Sutton.
YORK CITY: Male, Howe ©, Sinclair (90+4’ Grumley), Hunt, Pearce (84’ John-Lewis), Nathaniel-George (61’ Nathaniel-George), Armstrong (74’ Chadwick), Batty (74’ Aguiar), John, Felix, Fagan-Walcott.
UNUSED SUBS: Watson, Hernandez.
ATTENDANCE: 8,234 (1,214 York City fans).
