Image by Tom Poole
The Minstermen won 2-1 against Chester FC in the Emirates FA Cup First Round replay at the LNER Community Stadium on Tuesday night.
Both sides knew that victory in the game would setup a Friday night encounter against League One side Wigan Athletic in front of the BBC cameras.
Neal Ardley made three changes to the side which won away at AFC Fylde on Saturday afternoon, with David Stockdale, Lenell John-Lewis and Thierry Latty-Fairweather coming in for George Sykes-Kenworthy, Kai Kennedy and Olly Green.
Defender Michael Duckworth and attacker Maziar Kouhyar also returned to the bench after absences.
City needed no time to settle into the fixture with Dipo Akinyemi racing through and striking hard narrowly over the bar.
Lenell John-Lewis added to that in the fifth minute when he broke the deadlock early, after Scott Burgess picked out the skipper at the front post of the corner to strike in.
Akinyemi looked to test the Chester FC defence again, sending a curled effort towards Wyll Stanway which was palmed away.
Stockdale then found himself on the receiving end of a chance in the 12th minute, the angle was well tightened before Adam Thomas struck at the shot-stopper.
The intense opening soon calmed with both sides moving the ball well to try and carve openings in a healthy battle for the remainder of the half.
Defender Callum Howe tested his luck with two chances in the 44th minute, firstly acrobatically and then from a header through a corner which dipped over the bar.
York started the second half as fast as the first through Akinyemi, the forward picked out teammate John-Lewis in the 47th minute through a back post cross but he couldn’t quite connect onto it.
A scramble incurred in the 58th minute, inside the Minstermen area, as the visitors overloaded the area and surrounding which concluded in Elliott Whitehouse poking wide from point blank range.
John-Lewis doubled City’s lead in the 67th minute after a goalkeeper mis-judgement allowed the forward to thump it home from close range.
Stockdale did incredibly well to get low and deny Chester a way back in on the 69th minute, denying a close range Glendon effort.
Captain Glendon eventually landed the opener with had a second bite at it in the 71st minute, prodding the visitors back into the tie.
The game grew into a tense encounter as Chester pressed for an equaliser. Substitute Charlie Caton looked to be in through an over the top ball in the 79th minute, however the linesman flagged up on the forward who looked to charge through.
Goalkeeper Stockdale again denied the visitors in the 86th minute, going down low to his left to push away a Caton effort away before an offside flag followed.
A third was nearly added for the Minstermen in additional time as Burgess had an effort blocked before sending his second shot over the bar.
YORK CITY: Stockdale, Fallowfield, Cordner, McLaughlin, Akinyemi (78’ Kennedy), John-Lewis ©, Howe, Burgess, Woodyard, Latty-Fairweather, Smith.
UNUSED SUBS: Watson, Duckworth, Dyson, Castro, Kouhyar, Siziba, Barrow, Green.
CHESTER: Stanway, Taylor, Weeks, Burke, Williams, Glendon ©, Whitehouse (82’ Daly), Thomas (46’ Caton), Coates, Roberts, Edwards.
UNUSED SUBS: Davies, Evans, Sparrow, Murray, Heywood, Rosenblatt, Maguire.
ATTENDANCE: 3,850 (755 Chester supporters)
THE POTION’S CAULDRON MAN OF THE MATCH, CHOSEN BY PLONKERS: Lenell John-Lewis