By Ryan Brookes | Image by Tom Poole
Looking to make it two consecutive league wins for the first time this season, Neal Ardley’s side prepare to host Dorking Wanderers this Tuesday evening for a fixture that has been rearranged not once, but twice.
Dorking’s form since the match was last scheduled for mid-January has improved by little, but it still leaves them inside the bottom four, only by goal difference.
Inconsistent is one way to describe it, with the Wanderers’ picking up two wins from their last five games. However, those couple of victories over Gateshead and Boreham Wood both came playing against ten men.
A team that competed in their National League maiden season last term, Marc White’s men will certainly be no easy test despite their lowly league position – they can go level on points with City with three in midweek.
But it is the Minstermen who hold the advantage following their late win in Southend at the weekend; on the other hand, Dorking failed to make a home game count, as they were beaten 3-1 by FC Halifax Town.
Manager: Marc White
Not only is Marc White the manager of Dorking Wanderers, but he is also the club’s founder, owner, and chairman.
The 50-year-old founded the club with a group of friends back in 1999, and since starting out in the amateur park leagues, the only way has been up.
Initially playing for the team, he went on to become boss, and has overseen countless promotions, from the seventeenth tier all the way up to the fifth tier.
White flaunts an incredible 52% win rate across more than 600 games, and is keen to eventually make the huge step up to the Football League with Dorking, but saving them from the drop this year is the first job on the list.
Top Scorer: Jason Prior
Without main man Jason Prior, we could have been talking about a Wanderers side destined for relegation, but thanks to the veteran striker, they have a fair chance of escaping the drop zone as it stands.
A player who served a brief spell at White’s beloved AFC Wimbledon, and has bags of experience down in these leagues, it is no surprise that he has been banging in the goals for Dorking this season.
He’s already bagged nine this campaign in 24 games, making that one goal every 199 minutes.
The number nine has in fact, already scored once against York, in the 2-2 reverse fixture back in August, and will be hoping to do so again this Tuesday.
One We Know: Dan Pybus
Most City fans will know the name Dan Pybus quite well, one that is fresh in the memory from last season’s survival on our return to the National League.
The 26-year-old put pen to paper with the Minstermen in Summer 2022, when John Askey brought him to the club from Scottish side Dunfermline.
An ever-present for most of the campaign, Pybus played 41 games for City, helping out in keeping us in the division.
The midfielder signed a contract extension at the beginning of last year, but departed the club after playing only twice in 2023/24.
He went on to sign for Dorking just hours before City’s journey down to Surrey, which saw the sides play out a 2-2 draw, with Pybus coming on as a sub for the hosts to make his debut.
He has enjoyed 25 league appearances since then at Dorking, and will be making a return to the LNER Community Stadium this week.
Head-to-Head
Last season brought the first meeting between the Minstermen and the Wanderers when interim boss Tim Ryan oversaw a narrow 1-0 defeat at Meadowbank before Michael Morton took charge for the second half of the term, including our crucial 2-1 home victory against the National League newcomers.
We came so close to a second successive win over Dorking early this season, but were denied by a late Jason Prior header, cancelling out earlier strikes from Maz Kouhyar and Dipo Akinyemi.
Tuesday will mark the fourth contest between York and Dorking, as Neal Ardley becomes the third City boss to manage in this fixture.