With eight goals coming from five different players, and goalkeeper Dominic McMahon keeping a clean sheet, the York 1sts delivered a dominant performance in a victory which sees them leapfrogging Teesside in the BUCS table.
James Davis, Alex Tringham and Phil Taylor bagged a brace each, while Tom Day and Tom Clarke also got on the scoresheet.
The first real chance of the game fell to Teesside, as, having won a free kick, the visitors chose to loft the ball into the six yard box; keeper McMahon came to punch, but failed to get proper contact, however the Teesside strikers could not react quickly enough to capitalise on the error, and McMahon managed to recover to palm the ball out of danger.
And Teesside were immediately made to pay, as York delivered a stunning one-two punch, when, in the space of a few minutes, the home side were 1-0 up. The first goal was created by James Davis, as, in a darting run, he burst into the box from out wide, and though his shot was saved, Tom Day was on hand to put in the rebound. The second followed almost immediately, when Tom Clarke sent a low cross into the box, which was dummied by Dalton Harris, leaving Phil Taylor to lash the ball home.
York almost followed this up with a third, as Alex Tringham beat two men to burst into the box and draw a badly mistimed challenge from a Teesside defender, the referee immediately pointing to the spot. However, Tom Clarke, failed to convert from twelve yards, as, going for power over placement, he hit his shot wide.
The tide of the game seemed to change following this incident, as, with snow beginning to fall and the wind swirling wildly, Teesside started to put some real pressure on the York goal.
The visitors briefly thought they had got a goal back, when their striker challenged the York keeper in the air to put the ball in McMahon’s net, however, the goal was disallowed, leaving the score at 2-0 come half-time.
This sniff of goal seemed to give Teesside a confidence which they carried over into the second half, and they immediately gave York a scare as a Teesside free kick was headed inches wide of the post. A second clear chance came shortly afterwards, as a Teesside forward broke away from the York back line and bore down on the goal, but with McMahon coming out quickly, the striker could only hurry a sliding shot which rolled past the far post. And York were really treading on thin ice when they found themselves sprinting back to defend another Teesside breakaway, getting a huge slice of luck when this time, a chip from the Teesside winger cleared McMahon, but rebounded off the crossbar.
However, York roundly punished their opponents for their profligacy in front of goal, when Alex Tringham stepped up to take a free-kick 20 yards from goal, and sent the ball flying past the Teesside keeper for 3-0. And it was Tringham who got York’s fourth of the day, when, not long afterwards, he picked up a loose ball on the left wing, and without breaking stride floated an effortless chip over the keeper which curled beautifully into the top corner.
The fifth and sixth were soon to follow, both created by crosses from Ollie Harrison, the first met by a drive from James Davies which fizzed inside the post and the second chested down and buried by Phil Taylor.
York were really turning on the style by this point, their flamboyance and confidence epitomised when a clearance from their own box was picked up by Tom Clarke, Teesside seemed to have averted the danger when he was forced to go wide, but instead they found themselves on the receiving end of a piece of magic as Clarke turned back on himself and lobbed the helpless Teesside keeper from an outrageous angle, triggering manic scenes in the York dugout.
In their eagerness, York almost surrendered their clean sheet, as the Teesside team worked the ball upfield to their striker, whose shot beat McMahon, only to be cleared off the line by Tringham. And the visitors’ misery was compounded when James Davis found himself in on goal, and had time to take a touch before slotting in his second and York’s eighth.
The score reflected well what was a very solid performance from the whole York team; there was only a brief spell at the start of the second half where Teesside started the brighter and created a few good openings, but once York got going, they remained on top.
York may have caught the eye going forward, but the quality of play ran through the whole team; the back four kept a consistent back line, frustrating the Teesside forwards who were rarely able to catch them on the break, and they were supported well by the midfield, led by captain Matt Mawdesley, who was tireless in chasing down lost causes and hassling opponents out of possession.
And Mawdesley was full of praise for his team, saying he was “Very impressed, all the lads played absolutely brilliantly, we were solid at the back, fast going forward, and I think it’s been a long time coming. We’ve been playing well up until this game but we’ve just not been getting the results, it’s not been clicking on the day but I think today was an example of where it all went right.
“I think we were very solid at the back, the two centre halves and two full backs were very strong. I think we limited them to maybe three or four chances in the game, and going forward we were fast and fluid with everyone going forward, so, I was very impressed.”
Commenting on the blustery conditions, he noted: “I think we enjoy it a bit when it’s on the floor, it suits us, a great surface like this, I think it suited us a bit better than them today.”
Vision MOTM: Alex Tringham