Match Report: York City v Fleetwood Town.

By Sam Heaney

Fleetwood Town’s promotion chase was tested to the limit after a fighting performance from high-flying York City, a test in character for Town which they overcame in the end.

Second half substitute and former Minsterman, Richard Brodie scored the only goal of the game to give Town a point tally of 101 which gave them a chance to seal automatic promotion to the Football League against Wrexham on Tuesday night.

Town made one change to the starting line up. Gareth Seddon made way for ex-York City player, Peter Till. Midfielder, Scott Brown, played 8 league games for Fleetwood earlier in the season, sat on the bench for the home side.

Andy Mangan and Alan Goodall both made positive starts to the game but were unable to trouble the home side’s defence which was the start to an uncomfortable afternoon for both sides.

Fleetwood’s defence struggled to adapt to the pace of the game in the first 10 minutes and a mix up at the back resulted in Steve McNulty giving away a free kick 20 yards out. Erik Tonne’s effort was blocked. A huge let-off for Town.


McNulty, not met well by the home support, bundled over Tonne just 5 minutes later. Eugan Bopp’s free kick sailed wide.

Magno Vieira came on to replace Blue Square Premier Player of the Month Peter Cavanagh who suffered a leg injury after 20 minutes.

York were fortunate not to concede a penalty after Lee Fowler played an inch-perfect ball to wing-back Shaun Beeley who thought he was brought down in the area. The protests were waved away and Fowler very nearly made amends when he saw his deflected free kick glance off the crossbar.

Fowler was caught in possession in the centre circle and England C’s Matty Blair raced towards goal but the Town defence held strong. Beeley needed treatment after the attack due to being hit in the face with ball from Goodall’s clearance but returned to the action shortly after.

The game went scrappy just before the hour mark with neither team being able to grab hold of the game and dictate it.

Full back Lanre Oyebanjo’s shot on 67 minutes was blazed over, however Ashley Chambers was on target with his fierce drive forcing Scott Davies to get down low and save at his near post. York’s pace caused all sorts of problems for Town as they were pinned back in their own half for a long periods.

The sucker-punch came after Fleetwood Town survived the bombardment from City. Leading scorer, Jamie Vardy, found Brodie in space down the right. The powerful striker cut in before placing the ball into the far corner past Ingham for his 10^th goal of the season.

York substitute, Adriano Moke, ran straight through the Cod Army’s defence but Davies raced off his line forcing the shot to go wide. York pushed for an equaliser and they thought they had it but were denied due to a clearance off the line by Beeley.

At the other end Fowler placed a shot straight at Ingham on the 78^th minute. The final proceedings of the game fell to York. The key moment came when Oyebanjo’s cross found the head of Blair. The ball hit the inside of the post and bounced into the arms of Davies. This summed the game up for York as they slowly but surely excepted defeat.