York Men’s 1sts scraped to a 3-2 victory in their first game of the season, in which was a thrilling contest against Durham 3rds on the JLD this afternoon. York had thrashed a weakened version of this side 6-0 at the end of last season to secure their place in this division for this campaign, but today they faced a much more challenging outfit.
Yet despite the challenge facing the home side, York got off to the perfect start, opening the scoring with only minutes gone from a short corner. Hugo Christie’s injection was accurately stopped, and Laurie Torrington stepped up to drag flick into the top left hand corner and hand York the early advantage.
York’s start got even better minutes later Jimmy Johnson threaded Phil Ratliff through on goal after a mazy run. Ratliff made no mistake calmly stroking the ball past the oncoming keeper, to double York’s lead. York truly started in exquisite fashion, and a combination of lovely passes and forceful tackles placed them in the ascendancy.
However Durham wouldn’t give up despite a dreadful start, and fought their way back into the game. York keeper Callum Chaundy was set to have a busy afternoon despite the early start, as Durham pushed to score the crucial next goal. Space in the D allowed a Durham striker to force a save from Chaundy, before the visitors fired wide from one of many short corners.
They did pull a goal back though on the quarter hour mark, when a powerful ball was struck goalbound from 35 yards, and deflected home at the near post by a Durham stick. An attacking burst by Hugo Christie though threatened to reassert York’s advantage, but no one could apply a touch to his probing reverse into the Durham D.
In the end it was Durham who struck the next blow, equalising the scoreline from a short corner. A dancing run from a Durham midfielder saw a foul drawn and the award of another short corner. This time the visitors were to get their reward, as the deflected hit crept past Chaundy and into the goal. At the other end Durham’s keeper was forced into a double save in order to prevent Torrington and Leo Watton.
The game was getting stretched and that suited the visitors who won another series of short corners, none of which came to any avail, whilst another save was forced out of Chaundy by a shot from the edge of the D. Watton nearly scored a stunning goal, but his shot crashed into the outside of the post from a tight angle, rather than into the back of the net. Despite this Durham finished the half stronger, but the scoreline remained level.
The second half started in quieter fashion, with no clear chances for either side. The Durham keeper was forced into a crucial kick to intervene when danger was on hand, but the visitors still looked dangerous on the attack but were unable to breakdown the York backline. Play was mainly in the middle third, but Durham continued to win dangerous short corners.
York seemed unable to maintain possession for sustained periods, so it was a surprise when they retook the lead midway through the second half. A penetrating ball was fired forward from Christie, and Jammy Wilson applied a vital touch to hand the home side the lead once more. Durham searched for an immediate equaliser and pushed more players forward, but this provided York with the chance to exploit space on the break.
York were playing some promising and purposeful hockey with Watton leading the line. Their press was proving effective, and the side was defensively well organised. Yet Chaundy once more had to make a crucial save to maintain his side’s advantage. York’s cause wasn’t helped by a yellow card for Watton, meaning that they had to defend their lead for the last few minutes with only ten men.
The last few minutes saw York trying to run down the clock, and having to defend a series of short corners. The first forced another save from the impressive Chaundy, whilst Christie had to clear the second off the line. As the final whistle went the visitors were awarded another short corner, and a final chance to break York’s hearts. Everyone drew a deep breath but York managed to survive and scramble the ball clear to confirm their victory.
Captain George Richards commented on the game: “It’s a nice way to start the season in terms of the result, but it was a scrappy performance at times. It was a bit of a baptism of fire after our first match had been postponed last week, and we’re a relatively new team coming together at the moment. Today shows great promise for the season ahead.”
Vision MOTM: Callum Chaundy