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Photos: Jack Western
UYAFC 1sts were taught a harsh lesson in clinical finishing by a Hull team who were the lesser lights for long periods in this encounter.
The Black and Gold,who looked very strong indeed before kick-off coming off the back of four straight wins, were a dominant force in the opening exchanges, but a goal against the run of play for the visitors broke the deadlock midway through the first half.York found themselves even more up against it shortly after the break, with a moment of magic from a Hull winger who curled a delectable effort past Bradley to double their advantage.
The hosts would see themselves halve the deficit with a fortunate deflection off Jamie Trant, but the game was put beyond them with a gallingly easy third for Hull in the 85th minute.
The opening twenty minutes took place almost entirely in and around Hull’s penalty area. The close control of captain and right-winger James Davies saw him give the opposition left-back a torrid time, and he would come breathtakingly close to an opener within the first five minutes, cutting inside and stroking a beautifully hit shot that looked for all the world to be nestling in the top corner before a Hull defender headed off the line. Excellent work from the White Rose in switching the play left to right won them a throw out wide, the ball found its way first into the box and then to the feet of Joe Easter who cannoned a shot off the post from point-blank range. It was this merciful finishing which would typify York’s afternoon.
The visitors had shown little by way of attacking prowess- with a single foray forward and a shot off target to show for their opening 20 minutes- but it was they who would take the lead against the run of play, breaking well down the left and switching play quickly to their right winger as he broke into the box, drilling a low shot with conviction past the helpless Luke Bradley. Their opener settled the visitors’ nerves, and in combination with the resolute defending they had already shown, they looked a tough proposition for a York comeback.
The home side should have been level on 35 minutes as they looked to turn the screw, with efficient interplay between Davies and the supporting run of his right-back Dan Jones allowing for Davies to cut back to Joe Easter on a late run into the box. The goal was gaping, but the attacking midfielder went for precision over power- and watched his cute side-footed effort trickle teasingly wide of the bottom corner.
As the half closed out, the game grew increasingly frenetic as York seeked to press ever higher up the pitch. Their recklessness in this approach led to a free run on goal for the Hull striker on the break, and he would have been one on one with Bradley were it not for a saving tackle to nick the ball off his toes from the impressive Alex Tringham. York would curse the ‘man on the post’ for a second time with the last kick of the half, a Tom Brandreth downward header with conviction flicked off the line by a stray boot.
A ball had barely been kicked in anger after the break and Hull were two to the good. Their left winger was permitted too much space 25 yards from goal, and his opportunism in the face of lax York pressure for the first time in the match allowed him to send a curling effort across the body of Luke Bradley which veered inside the post at the last moment to rapturous applause from his bench and team-mates.
Uncharacteristically for the Black and Gold, their heads dropped, and the tempo of the game became noticeably flatter, with Trant and Easter not providing as much movement to trouble the Hull defenders as they were in the first half. By steadfastly refusing to switch the play, York became architects of their own inability to create chances, with an unstretched Hull defensive unit able to neutralise any creative link play from the home side. Jamie Trant’s lack of service was visibly frustrating the frontman- and he dropped into the channels more and more frequently to offer support to the wingers. This in turn brought Joe Mann into the game on the left, and on three occasions Mann would receive a cushioned pass from Trant, knock it back to his striker and go on the overlap, allowing him to get into the box and get a shot away. The third of these occasions in the 60th minute yielded a corner, and a Trant header which yet again was cleared off the line by Hull’s man on the post.
No matter how much the White Rose ramped up the pressure, they were continually frustrated by a lack of precision in the final third. As Hull sat deeper and deeper to protect their result, they opened up pockets of space in front of their back four, and Joe Easter capitalised in the 73rd minute when in receipt of a pass, he surged between two Hull players and let fly of a low shot from 20 yards, which looked harmless but clipped the toe of Jamie Trant, wrongfooting the Hull keeper and nestling in the bottom corner of the net. It was game on, and there was a definite sense that York would get one chance to grab an equaliser, with Dan Jones overlapping Davies to get on the end of a pass which looked like a carbon copy of Hull’s opener, but Jones could only sidefoot straight at the keeper from just inside the box.
The equaliser never came. The final nail in the coffin came courtesy of an innocuous looking run by the Humberside outfit’s left winger, but he was allowed to run and run as the challenge which should have taken care of it never arrived, and he calmly thumped the ball into the net for 3-1. Mirhile Overo-Tarimo would go on to work some space for himself and smash the ball against the Hull crossbar from the penalty spot, but it was too little too late. York created more chances, and had more possession- but when the visitors got their opportunities, they were seized with aplomb.
York captain James Davies: “We had more of the ball and created more chances, but our final ball was no good. We were sloppy in the final third, and if you do that, you won’t win games. Their first goal caught us out a bit, we weren’t tight enough. Nothing we could do about their second, though. We did well to get ourselves back in the game- but to concede again was poor.”
VISION MOTM: James Davies
YORK (4-2-3-1): Bradley, Jones, Brandreth, Tringham, Harrison, Overo-Tarimo, Osborne, Davies, Easter, Mann, Trant
Subs: Nestor, Harris