York 1-2 U's: Yorkies Chomped
Saturday 11th August 2007 - York 1-2 U's: Yorkies Chomped
It's all over for another year. Those directionless summer Saturday afternoons spent desultorily pushing a lawn mower around the garden or a pushchair around an air-conditioned retail hell-hole or a shopping trolley around a warehouse full of things you don't want to buy... are over.
It is time to hit the road again, to visit those characterless service stops and marvel at the same overpriced tat that was there last season (is there anyone who actually buys the ceramic hedgehogs in amusing poses from these places?), time to visit those delightful pubs tucked away just around the corner from this week's football ground and marvel at the grinding, over-hyped mediocrity of the Premiership football they are showing on their widescreen tellies and Richard Keys' increasingly desperate attempts to persuade us that this really is The Greatest League In The World. Marvellous, isn't it?
This opening Saturday's watering hole of choice was The Burton Stone, an airy and cheerful venue just around the corner from Bootham Crescent in York, and its footballing treat of choice was Spurs versus the newly renamed 'Roy Keane's Sunderland.' Dire scarcely does justice to a non-event with two whole 'highlights' in its entire ninety turgid minutes.
But hey, the sun is shining and KitKat Crescent calls. Yes, the Minstermen's ground still bears that preposterous but lucrative name, and it still remains resolutely and comfortingly unchanged, with its small seated stands along either side, covered terrace at one end for the homies and the traditional uncovered standing area for the visitors, replete with open-air toilets unchanged since the Pleistocene Era and marginally more modern refreshment hut.
Over five hundred travelling U's travelled to bask in the sun, many sporting United's natty new away shirt to match the team, a white affair with black stripe down one side and what can only be described as amber claw marks on the other side just above hip level. How terribly modern.
We were ready for the off. One chap was particularly ready, appearing bare-chested fresh from what must have been many hours of dedicated preparation in a local hostelry, and he spent several minutes after his arrival upon the terraces pointing at the nearest seated stand and bellowing "WHO ARE YA??" at deafening volume before finally realising that he was addressing the U's fans sat in their own seated area adjoining the terrace. Well, it was an easy mistake to make.
Unfortunately York City did not seem quite as prepared for the start of the season. They ran out of programmes at half past two, a dismal error of judgement on somebody's part, and the refreshments hut ran out of hot water by three o'clock. One hoped for their sake that their team was better prepared on the pitch than they were off it.
United were certainly raring to go, eager to break a run of six defeats, two draws and no wins in opening-day matches since their last win in 1998, 1-0 via a Martin Butler penalty at Torquay. The U's went on to gain promotion that season, funnily enough...
The line-up was predictable, with six United making their league debuts after signing during the summer. OK, it chucked it down with rain most days, but it was still summer. Danny Potter started behind a back three of Michael Morrison (making his 52nd consecutive league start), Mark Albrighton and Gavin Hoyte, with the usual wing-backs in Courtney Pitt and Dan Gleeson. Gleese was creating an unique record in that he has now played for United for five seasons and worn a different squad number every term (31, 20, 2, 25 and now 7, fact fans).
In midfield Darren Quinton was preferred to Rob Wolleaston, paying the price for several anonymous pre-season displays, and accompanied skipper Danny Brown and ex-Yorkie Mark Convery. An entirely new front pairing bore plenty of experience in Lee Boylan, already established as something of a goal machine, and the imposing figure of Leopold Paul Osborne Fortune-West, now on his seventeenth different club since starting out at the footballing academy that is Tiptree United.
The hosts also sported five new faces following the close season loss of key players such as Clayton Donaldson and Neal Bishop, including an entirely new strike partnership of Paul Brayson and Chris Beardsley, and were captained by the imposing figure of Emmanuel Panther.
A host of new-looking flags appeared at the home end to greet the entrance of the players, only to disappear after a minute or so, never to be seen again. The waving might have been accompanied by triumphant entrance music, but it was impossible to tell from the away end as it was completely inaudible. Probably just as well.
The United team wore their new white away shirts teamed with black home shorts because York wear white shorts, and of course it would have been impossible for either team to tell each other apart if they had only been wearing different coloured shirts. How terribly confusing. Regrettably it had the effect of making United look a bit like Cambridge City, and let's face it, that's not a good look, is it?
After the U's had enjoyed their now customary pre-kickoff huddle, both teams set about each other with pace and vigour as the sun beat down on the backs of the travelling United contingent. First shot on 4 went to the hosts, but left-back Mark Robinson's effort flicked off team-mate Craig Farrell and spun wide.
There was no quarter given nor asked, with Brown snapping away like a terrier chasing a cat which had just stolen his bone, and Big Leo up front was subject to particular physical scrutiny; needless to say the veteran bruiser gave as good as he got. There was precious little incisiveness in the final third from either side, however, until Quinton intercepted a sloppy pass by David McGurk on 13 and sent Boylan scampering down the left channel to fire a low shot goalwards which was smothered by keeper Tom Evans, sporting an alarmingly bright orange jersey which make him resemble a radioactive satsuma.
There had been concern from some supporters beforehand as to whether the inexperienced Hoyte was ready for this level of football, but he showed no signs of weakness with some splendidly timed, crunching tackles, one particularly good one on the quarter hour foiling a characteristic run from deep by the rampaging escaped Panther.
York very nearly took the lead, however, on 19. Farrell played a one-two from a short corner, the first of the match, and, with no challenge forthcoming, let fly with an angled drive from the corner of the box that looked bound for the far top corner until its curl caused it to smack against the bar. Brayson, unable to keep it down, headed the rebound over.
The contest then resumed its status as a hard-fought midfield war of attrition, with neither side able to conjure up a clear-cut scoring chance for the next fifteen minutes, the hosts restricted to off-target long-rangers from Beardsley and Martyn Woolford. United's 3-5-2 was effective in a containing capacity, but there was little quality supply to a front two who were still getting to know each other's game.
The U's finally created something of note on 34, Pitt breaking free of his defensive shackles to dance down the wing and arrow over a cross to the far post where Fortune-West, rising up as if hauled up by an invisible crane, beat marker McGurk and the keeper to the header but nodded just wide.
Encouraged, United almost repeated the trick a minute later when Convery broke down the right and spotted LFW lurking at the far post, but his miscued cross curled goalward and bounced off the top of the crossbar.
Back at the other end, Morrison made a rare mistake on 38 in allowing himself to be dispossessed in the corner by Woolford. Gleeson raced back to help as the York man sped into the box, and as they tussled for possession, Woolford tumbled to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut. There was no appeal from the Minstermen, but ref Waugh in his wisdom awarded the softest of soft penalties, to the horror and incredulity of the men in white and their supporters.
Potter did his best to delay the kick, but Farrell sent him the wrong way and stroked comfortably home. 1-0.
Straight from the restart, Pitt was dispossessed by Panther, who went on another of his rollicking runs down the right wing. Pitt gave up the chase, Brown gave pursuit but also did not look like catching him, so across came Hoyte to intercept with a quite stupendous mega-tackle which, although cleanly contacting the ball first, also flattened Panther, Brown and the hapless linesmen standing just behind them. Fantastic stuff: that must have registered about 8 on the Richter Scale.
Incredibly, the ball somehow remained in play, and Panther was up first from the mini-earthquake to head for goal. Brown was having none of it and lunged to bring the York skipper down; he received a yellow card for his (and his opposite number's) pains.
The prickly heat and United's sense of injustice led to the shortening of several tempers, even more so when Gleeson went down under a heavy challenge in the York box and the ref allowed the hosts to advance upfield and essay a failed attack before allowing the United man treatment. Brown clashed with Panther again but Waugh did not deem his challenge worthy of a second yellow, but Hoyte did pick up a booking on half-time for felling Farrell.
There was still time for the hosts to pick up a card of their own when Pitt intercepted a home pass but was then clattered violently to the ground just after he cleared upfield by Beardsley. It was probably just as well that the interval came soon after, to allow both sets of players time to cool off. It had been an even half, but the U's felt rightly aggrieved at being behind in such undeserving circumstances.
For the amber hordes there was some relief from the sub-Saharan sun when a smattering of cloud cover drifted across the sky, and there was time to pity the unfortunate soul cavorting around in the hot'n'sweaty costume of the hosts' lion mascot, Yorkie. These names, eh? How do they think of them?! I'd have thought a giant KitKat would have been more appropriate for the venue, but I guess there was a danger of it either melting or getting eaten.
Hostilities resumed unchanged for part two, Pitt's challenge on Carl Jones causing the latter to go down like the proverbial sack of spuds, and on 48 a Panther cross was deflected to Farrell, but he stabbed his shot wide. United needed a quick response if anything was to be salvaged from the contest. And by golly, we got it.
On 51 the U's conjured up a set piece routine straight off the training ground. Convery lined up a corner from the right, Albrighton hung back outside the box and he timed his late run to perfection to meet the flag-kick unchallenged on the run twenty yards out. Evans dived but could only shovel it out towards Hoyte in the corner of the six-yard box, and he wasted no time in lashing home from the angle past a forest of bodies on the line. First game, first goal: 1-1!
Tails up, United continued to take the game to the hosts, and on 55 another melee in the area appeared to have been scrambled clear until Waugh pointed to the spot, to the bafflement of most concerned. What they had not seen, and the man in black had, was Stuart Elliott lash out at LFW after a typical, tough-but-fair challenge from the big man. No doubt about it: penalty, and a straight red for the errant Yorkie. When Confectionery Goes Bad.
York were allowed to bring on midfielder Ross Greenwood in place of Brayson before the spot-kick was taken. Boylan stepped up and, with all the belief in the world, stroked it decisively past Evans' correctly-guessed dive. 2-1.
What a turnaround! It had always been an evenly contested affair, but to turn round a one-goal deficit within ten minutes of the restart at such a difficult venue was the stuff of dreams. Now a repeat of last season's victory by the same scoreline here was very much on the cards.
The hosts responded positively to their plight and began to challenge United with some neat passing moves and positive runs at the heart of their defence. Hoyte blocked a Woolford shot on 58, Quinton broke away to shoot wide at the other end, and on 62 York made two positive changes to signal their intention to fight for the points by bringing on popular young striker Onome Sodje and Richard Brodie for Farrell and Beardsley.
Boylan and Fortune-West were gradually getting to know each other's foibles and on 65 LFW headed on for his strike colleague to flash a first-time shot goalward as he fell, which Evans gathered. Convery had picked up an injury and on 68 was replaced by Stephen Reed to warm applause from the York fans who remembered him with affection. Bless.
The Minstermen continued to attack as United, perhaps subconsciously, sat back a little on their lead. Albrighton did well to head a Ben Purkiss cross to safety on 70 and from the ensuing corner McGurk eventually nodded wide. Next up Stephen Smith came on for Pitt, with Reed moving wide left, in the first of a couple of consolidatory substitutions by JQ.
The Little & Large combination still promised much up front for the U's, though, and on 75 another LFW flick was volleyed first time onto the roof of the net by the ever-alert Boylan. Mark Peters then came on for Hoyte to add his vast experience to the back line. Jones and Sodje blasted wide, but United continued to hold on with relative comfort despite surrendering a little too much possession in midfield to enable much chicken counting.
Panther went fairly close with a diving header on 86, then United threatened to seal it with a nice move featuring Smith, Quinton and LFW, the latter finally shooting into the side netting as Evans sought to close him down.
Three minutes' added time was indicated and United's older heads coped well in keeping things reasonably calm and seeing it out. Then it was all over and the amber hordes celebrated in fine style, toasting their first opening-day win for nine years and a gutsy, hard-fought victory against tricky opposition who will be up there with the promotion challengers again this year. Last time we beat them 2-1 away, they came and mullered us 5-0 at the Abbey. History doesn't always repeat itself, does it?
No point in getting carried away yet, of course. After all, it's a Snickers, not a sprint...
This was the sort of day that reminds you just why you trek up and down the country following your team, why you get up at all ungodly hours of the morning, or indeed arrive home at all ungodly hours of the morning, having spent unfeasible amounts of money supporting those eleven amber/blue/white shirts. Remember it, savour its memory and use it to sustain you when other trips don't go quite so well later in the season. This is why we do it, this is what makes it all worthwhile. Welcome to the new season!
Player Ratings
Potter 7. For all York's possession he had very little to do, but always looked confident and competent.
Morrison 7. Got on with his job calmly and unflashily.
Albrighton 8. The man who holds the back line together.
Hoyte 8. Triumphant debut.
Gleeson 7. Good, steady contribution.
Brown 8. Led by example with towering tackles and cunning covering.
Quinton 7. Flitted in and out of the game but deserves a run in the side.
Convery 7. Methodical and accurate passer.
Pitt 7. Sterling work defensively and some good flashes going forward.
Fortune-West 8. Gave United a whole new dimension with his aerial power and hold-up play.
Boylan 7. Fed off scraps for much of the game but didn't miss when it mattered.
Reed 7. Solid, reliable team worker wide and in midfield.
Smith 7. Slotted in comfortably.
Peters 7. Wise old head helped United close the game out.
Match Summary
Battling United ground out a gritty victory in sweltering heat to seal their first opening-day win since 1998. As starts to the season go, this action-packed away day was about as good as it gets.
Man of the Match
Gavin Hoyte. The big man may still be a rough diamond, but he gave his experienced opponents no quarter with a display of strictly no-nonsense defending on his Conference debut and capped it all with a vital goal to boot.
Ref Watch
Waugh 6. Couldn't give York enough free-kicks in the first half, many for the most trifling of reasons, and his penalty decision for the hosts was little more than laughable. Full marks, however, for spotting the assault on LFW that gained the U's their winner and for his decisive action in sending off Elliott.
Soundtrack of the Day
Malcolm Middleton 'Fight Like The Night'
The MP3 Files
Mark Peters will return with his review of our opponents' musical offerings when we visit a ground where it is at least vaguely audible!
Andrew Bennett
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