York City 1-4 Histon
YORK CITY were beaten convincingly by high-flying Histon in the Blue Square Premier League on Saturday afternoon.
The home team squandered a host of chances in the first half before taking an early lead, but displayed a naivety at the back, and conceded two goals late into the second-half.
City dominated the early exchanges, and saw a string of good opportunities missed as Histon struggled to cope with the fluid counter-attacks. York winger Martyn Woolford was causing a host of problems down the left and was heavily involved when the deadlock was broken in the 29th minute as Nicky Wroe opened the scoring with a mid-range shot that soared past Mark Osborn, the Histon goalkeeper.
However, the away team brought the game level against the run of play after the City defence were caught unaware. Histon striker Antonio Murray left his marker standing to score a spectacular volley from a devilish cross in the 39th minute.
What looked to be shaping up to be a tight game was taken by the scruff of the neck by the visitors, who came out after half time looking much the more energised side. Their determination and physicality in the tackle was rewarded after just nine minutes of the second half when the City defence once again failed to clear a cross, leaving Nathaniel Knight-Percival to head Histon in front.
The second goal seemed to deflate a City team who have won only two home games all season. Histon dominated possession and were creating the better chances, as the York backline looked increasingly shaky. However, the introduction of Emmanuel Panther and Onome Sodje for the home side made an immediate impact, giving York improved structure. York started to find holes in the Histon defence and once again spurned a number of excellent chances.
Any hope of a late York revival ended in the 86th minute though, as the disappointing Mark Robinson at left-back handed Histon a 3–1 lead. Robinson appealed for an offside decision as Adrian Cambridge ran past him; letting the midfielder go unchallenged and cross into the box for Wright to fire a point-blank header past Tom Evans in goal.
Histon’s Cliff Akurang tapped-in to make it 4-1 deep into injury time to complete York’s embarrassment and leave them perilously close to the relegation zone, and Histon well-poised for a promotion battle.
Team Line-ups:
York: Evans, Purkiss, McGurk, Kelly, Robinson, Meechan (Sodje 57), Wroe (Panther 57), Elliott, Woolford, McBreen (Fry 76), Brayson.
Histon: Naisbitt, Pope, Mitchell-King (Langston 78), Ada, Gwillim, Okay, Cambridge, John Kennedy, Knight-Percival (Barker 70), Murray (Wright 68), Akurang.
Man of the Match:
Knight-Percival - The Histon midfielder dominated the centre of the pitch, and took advantage of York’s deep defending.
