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Photos: Vivan Jayant
Tom Brandreth headed a dramatic winning goal in extra time to send the York 1sts through to the next round of the cup at Hull’s expense.
The centre-back rose highest in the penalty area to head home Ollie Harrison’s cross from the left into the far corner and send the York supporters into wild celebrations on the touchline.
Remarkably, it is only the second competitive win for the 1sts this season since they have endured a difficult time in their BUCS league. Perhaps this result will inject new life into the second half of their campaign.
York had to come from behind on three occasions, most importantly when Dan Jones levelled matters at 3-3 in added time at the end of the 90 minutes.
The match was physical at times, characterised by some crunching tackles from the Hull players, but this did not put off York who regularly out-passed their opponents, who were often restricted to sporadic counter-attacks.
York had a shaky start to the match, with Oscar Lynch conceding a free kick from 25 yards which was tipped over by Dom McMahon.
And Hull opened the scoring after 11 minutes when a through ball to winger Nathan Cotterill caught out the York offside trap. The winger’s burst of pace allowed him to clip a neat shot past the oncoming McMahon into the far corner.
It then became clear to everybody both playing and watching that the kits for both teams were remarkably similar. York ended up donning brightly-coloured bibs which reflected the nature of their play thereafter.
York were getting more stuck in, winning more 50-50 tackles and feeding the wide players more regularly and their equaliser duly came mid-way through the half.
Tom Clarke whipped in a brilliant cross from the right wing which found Alex Reid lurking at the back post. Reid had just the keeper to beat, which he managed with a simple toe-poke.
York then had to make a forced substitution as Ash Daly came on for Matt Mawdesley, who was caught late by a rash Hull challenge which surprisingly went unpunished.
York were on top towards the end of the first half, winning numerous free-kicks in dangerous areas but not being able to take advantage of them.
This was punished in sucker-punch fashion right at the end of the half by a rapid Hull counter-attack which gave them a 2-1 lead, with Danny Ricketts finishing off the move by slamming the ball into the roof of the net.
Early in the second half, York had to call upon James Davies to ensure the scoreline did not become 3-1, as the striker cleared a header from a corner off the goal-line.
Then, Clarke offered a great opportunity by delivering a dangerous inswinging free-kick from the right, but it was somehow saved by a diving Fossdyke in the Hull goal.
Hull nearly scored their third on two occassions; the first a one-on-one chance which was wasted by Ricketts as he dinked his shot over McMahon but also wide of the far post, and the second an excellent save by the York ‘keeper as he saved a deflected shot to his left.
York then made an attacking substitution to inject some more firepower up front, with Josh Brownlow coming on for defender Luke Parker.
The equaliser to make it 2-2 came after 71 minutes as York pushed harder and Hull sat deeper. Captain Dan Turley was allowed time and space to play a long through ball to Tom Clarke who hit the gas pedal and volleyed a sumptuous finish into the far corner.
But York suffered from a poor refereeing decision which allowed Hull to re-take the lead. Turley was dispossessed at the back, and probably fouled, but the referee inexplicably waved play-on, allowing the Hull striker to slot home to the right of McMahon to make it 3-2.
Seconds later, Hull were arguably lucky to still have 11 players on the pitch when Ricketts delivered a karate-kick into Brandreth’s right knee with studs showing, but the referee did not even give a free-kick.
With ten minutes remaining, York were throwing the kitchen sink and more at the Hull goal. After 90 minutes, it seemed as though Hull would be progressing to the next round at York’s expense. But York’s crucial third equaliser finally came after one minute of added time through Dan Jones.
The winger found space at the far post to connect with a long Brandreth throw to send the ball into the back of the net and his team into the realms of extra time.
After five minutes of the first 15-minute period, Hull had a great chance to score a fourth goal, but Cotterill, albeit from a difficult angle, missed an open goal after McMahon failed to clear a ball just outside the penalty area.
Such profligacy was punished by Brandreth whose powerful header from Harrison’s cross gave his side the lead for the first time in the match, at a crucial stage.
The action was not over, however. Hull very nearly equalised on two occassions in the second period, as Jones was again called upon to clear off the line and Ricketts amazingly sent a header wide from a yard out. His prostrate position on the turf afterwards was apt for such a horrendous miss, amid the jeers from the York supporters.
And so York held on to claim a huge victory, for which captain Turley was very proud: ‘We’ve had to come from behind three times today which shows how much effort everyone put in.’ He cited this result and the next two home league games as ones ‘to turn our season around.’
Vision MOTM: Tom Clarke
What about their competitive win in the previous round of the cup?