York City vs Boston United
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| Welcome to York. |
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| Sunny North Londonshire. |
It was hardly a classic, neither the trip or the match. I left a sunny and warm North Londonshire (yes that's right) fairly early and arrived into a decidedly more chilly York with plenty of time to spare. Time for some good pub food and a couple of beers as well. There was reportedly nothing around the ground and I'd had several pubs recommended to me. So having met up with a mate we walked into the city centre. It was rammed! Tiny, narrow streets packed with Christmas shoppers all walking incredibly slowly and stopping randomly. This made it almost impossible to find our targeted pubs and any pubs or restaurants we did find were queued out of the door! Eventually, after about an hour, we found a chippy and plumped for take-away.
Drakes fish and chips are the self-proclaimed best in York. If those're the best in York I'd be surprised! Unable to find a pub in which it was possible to get to the bar we decided to make our way out to the ground.
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| The icy road to Wembley (maybe). |
Bootham Crescent is a little way outside the centre and there isn't very much around it. I was advised against the supporters club and the only other pub in the area is the Burton Stone Inn. That said it's a nice enough place to have a pre-game drink. It wasn't overly busy before the match and was only a short walk from the away end. The away end is pretty spartan, there was no roof and half of the terrace closed due to the blanket of snow that still covered it. At least there was running water in the presumably original Roman toilets.
Both teams had recently had games called off due to the weather with Boston having had an extended break due to postponements. York were in great form going into this game; unbeaten in seven games in the BSB Premier and cup competitions, conceding only once in the process. It was looking like a tough ask for the Pilgrims to get anything from this match. Boston made a couple of changes with McKeown coming back in and Pearson replacing an injured Murphy. This meant that Boston started with Newsham and Weir-Daley up front again! Brilliant!
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| The Boston support before kick-off. |
York dominated the early stages of the first half but didn't really create anything from their possession until the 20th minute, when Canoville put in a superb block to keep Robbie Weir out. Boston, when in possession, were playing some really nice football; cheered on by 150 very vocal Pilgrims. York didn't get into United or close down as much as the teams in BSB North do. Conversely York didn't like the way Boston got into them and Rankine in particular spent a lot of the time on the floor or moaning to the officials. Boston tend to do well against teams who let them play and this started to show with York being the team under pressure for the remainder of the half. The pressure told in the 30th minute when
Weir-Daley headed home at the back stick after a Jamie Yates corner went all the way through a crowded box. York had no answer and only managed one further chance which curled over the bar before the break.
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| Thanks to the York City fans for making a good job of clearing the pitch. |
York clearly got a rollicking during half-time and they were sent back out onto the pitch early. It obviously worked as they were the dominant side by far, in terms of possession and chances, during the second period. United's defence was magnificent, throwing blocks and tackles at everything York could produce. City, in spite of their dominance, had limited chances and couldn't take advantage of their dominance with Rankine spurning three good opportunities. Presumably he was concentrating on moaning at the officials rather than striking the ball. The Pilgrims were playing on the break and struggling to get out of their own half. There was one occurrence of note in the 60th minute: the first bit of noise from the 1150 York City supporters that wasn't a claim for handball. The repeated handball claims may have actually hindered York as when it came to a penalty claim for a
real handball the referee waved it away. York would've drawn level with 10 minutes left were it not for an absolutely brilliant save from McKeown as he acrobatically stopped an Andre Boucard 20 yarder. York couldn't really create anything else, even with the assistance of an extra five minutes and the clearly tiring Pilgrims held on for a fantastic result to progress through to the second round proper of the FA Trophy.
Like I said, by no means a classic but a fantastic win none the less! I'm just pleased to get back to watching the football after an enforced weather break. The Boston players and supporters were awesome, even if I do say so myself and the only sour note came from the police accusing one of our number of racism for the stick he gave Rankine. Calling Rankine a w**ker has nothing to do with the colour of his skin and everything to do with the fact that he
is a w**ker. Yet again the police over-react and spoil things. The second round draw will be carried out on Monday lunchtime and details can be found on the
FA website.
Next up: Hyde F.C. at York St in the BSB North, dependant on the weather of course!
