THREE goals in a 20-minute burst either side of the interval earned York City victory to keep their faltering play-offs aspirations alive at Kit-Kat Crescent yesterday, but they were pressed all the way by Aldershot Town.
“It was a vital three points for us,” Billy McEwan, the York manager, said. “We showed glimpses today of what we are capable of, but we were just not clinical enough in front of goal and that always gave them a chance.”
Jonny Dixon, the striker on loan from Wycombe Wanderers, gave the visiting team the lead after 16 minutes, applying the deftest of headers to a shot from Ryan Williams, but that early setback only spurred on York to greater efforts. Despite a glaring miss from Emmanuel Panther, who blazed over the bar from ten yards, Aldershot looked comfortable until Mark Convery restored parity seven minutes before the break, side-footing the ball past Nikki Bull from the edge of the penalty area.
An injury to John Brough, the centre back, caused Terry Brown, the Aldershot manager, to rearrange his defence during the interval and that proved to be their undoing as calamitous defending handed York two goals in the opening minutes of the second half.
First, confusion between Bull and his defence let Andy Bishop score from close range, and then, minutes later, after a misunderstanding between Gary Elphick and Gregg Heald, a goal kick from Chris Porter ran through to Clayton Donaldson, who slid the ball past the advancing Bull.
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An exquisite free kick from Williams with nine minutes remaining gave Aldershot belated hope, but they had given themselves too much to do with their carelessness.
York City (4-4-2): C Porter — D Craddock, D McGurk, J Dudgeon, N Peat — M Convery, N Bishop (sub: B Stewart, 77min), E Panther, D Dunning — A Bishop, C Donaldson. Substitutes not used: M Hotte, J O’Neill, D Merris, A Reid. Booked: Convery
Aldershot Town (4-4-2): N Bull — M Somner, G Heald, J Brough (sub: G Elphick, 46), L Hamilton — N Crittenden, S Watson (sub: R Scott, 75), G Holloway, R Williams — L Griffiths, J Dixon. Substitutes not used: T Jinadu, H Sulaiman, D Weait. Booked: Holloway, Somner, Scott
Referee: M Haywood