Report: York City 6-2 Magpies

 

Maidenhead United suffered a 6-2 defeat at the hands of league leaders York City on a dismal afternoon at the LNER Community Stadium. 

 

York kicked off the game with a clear intent to manage possession interrupted by the occasional threat down the left and right flanks. Alex Hunt came closest when he was squared a free kick, but the hosts would only have to wait until the quarter-hour mark to grab their first. Joe Felix whipped a cross into Ollie Pearce who connected with a diving header to open the scoring. 

 

Minutes later, Pearce himself was brought down in the box by Reece Smith. The frustrated midfielder lashed out at the York striker as he rose to his feet, with Pearce going down clutching his head. Only a yellow was given despite the pleas from home supporters, before Pearce converted the spot kick. 

 

York scored their third before half an hour had been played. A long ball over the top found Tyrese Sinclair, who chipped over Craig Ross in the 28th minute. 

 

Nathaniel-George scored in the previous encounter between York and Maidenhead, and he would repeat this feat for his new club in the 32nd minute. ANG collected the ball on the left, beat his man, and struck his effort past Ross to make it 4-0. 

 

United clawed one back in the last ten minutes of the first half. Sam Barratt, in a good position on the right-hand side of the pitch, passed back to Owen Cochrane for a first-time cross. His delivery found McCoulsky, who headed home to score Maidenhead’s first of the day. 

 

 

Only five minutes had been played before United’s day turned from bad to worse when Will de Havilland tackled Pearce. Although the centre-half was initially given a yellow by referee Steven Copeland, the decision was later changed to a straight red for Alan Massey despite United’s skipper being some distance from the incident. 

 

From there on in, the faint hopes for a historic comeback were extinguished with the Magpies a man down against the league leaders. It was a lacklustre affair for much of the second half, even the Magpies earned a second goal in the 64th minute. McCoulsky was brought down in the penalty box, with Sam Barratt calmly converting from the spot to make it 4-2. 

 

York’s man advantage soon paid off when another long ball over the United defence was headed down by Malachi Fagan-Walcott to Adam Crookes, who fired home 15 yards out. 

 

Pearce would have one last influence on the game in the build-up to the Minstermen’s sixth and final goal. The striker played through substitute Dipo Akinyemi, who in turn delivered a low cross to the six-yard box. The subsequent goal was given to Luca Thomas, who slid in alongside David Ajiboye to break York’s record for the number of goals in a single match at the LNER Community Stadium. 

 

 

York City: Male, Crookes, Howe, Sinclair (Akinyemi, 68’), Hunt (Aguiar, 68’), Pearce, Nathaniel-George (Ajiboye, 68’), Armstrong (Thomas, 83’), Batty, Felix (King, 76’), Fagan-Walcott 

 

Magpies: Ross, Dyce, de Havilland, Ferguson, McCoulsky, Pettit, Smith (Carvalho, 90’), Cochrane, Abrahams (Bell, 55’), Massey, Barratt (Ajose, 77’) 

 

Attendance: 5,442 (56)