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With the York Sport Village finalising its completion, it was only fitting that University of York Football Club opened the venue with a mouth-watering fixture against Coca-Cola League 2 opposition York City.
The professional side brought a strong line-up made up of current pros, senior academy players, and recently retired playing-staff who had all completed a gruelling four-week pre-season before this game. It would prove a fantastic test for the university team to see what needed to be worked on for the coming season.
The conditions could only be described as sweltering as the teams lined up for kick off, as the sun was still prominent in the afternoon sky. The game started at a frantic pace as UYAFC played a 4-5-1 system to attempt to shut out City for as long as possible.
This rear-guard action proved extremely effective as the UYAFC back four seemed imperious with full-backs Matt Darling and Matthew Bainbridge battling hard against the York City wide men.
As the half wore on, the university men began to settle and retain the ball with Tom Day acting as the playmaker through the midfield. This was proving incredibly valuable with Darling and Gill getting plenty of space down the left hand side to create a couple of half-chances for the home side.
However the game remained goalless at the half time break, which suited the university team, who had worked exceptionally hard in the heat.
The second half kicked off in a similar manner, with York City probing regularly to try and find the break-through that they were looking for. The UYAFC team were defending superbly throwing bodies on the line to keep the score at 0-0, with keeper Jonny Sim having to make several saves in the opening 10 minutes.
However, the League 2 side finally broke the deadlock on 70 minutes with fantastic, patient build-up leading to a through ball and simple finish for one of their senior academy players breaking forward from midfield. Nothing the superb Jonny Sim could have done with that one!
The goal did not deflate the university men who refused to lie down, as the hard-working Conor Meckin broke through on goal shortly after but could not make the chance count. It seemed to be a reoccurring issue for the university team, who had the opportunity to shoot from 20 yards several times but didn’t seem to have the confidence to take on the shot to trouble the York City ‘keeper.
In the final 10 minutes, the fitness of the professional players stood out as they scored a scrappy second goal from the edge of the box. The ball fell to the York City forward who spun and fired in a shot, which clipped the shin of a diving Matt Darling before looping over the York University keeper Jonny Sim. Incredibly unlucky.
However, the final whistle blew and UYAFC can be very proud of their overall display who held the professional outfit out for 70 minutes. A fantastic occasion not only for the club, but for the university as a whole.
Vision MOTM: The whole team battled superbly from start to finish, so impossible to select out a single player.