Blue
Square Premier - 29th March 2008
At KitKat Crescent - Att 2,256 (165 Ebbsfleet)
Report
City slumped to their first home defeat under Colin
Walker in a downpour at KitKat
Crescent. A game that was 0-0 in all but name hinged on
Ebbsfleet scoring with an early, deflected free-kick but that
was the only real threat on goal throughout the 90 minutes.
A pleasant afternoon turned nasty three minutes before kick
off as the rain swept in across the Vale of York and it didn't
relent. Half time saw conditions worsen and the pitch took an
absolute battering. Indeed, one could hear the players' feet
squelching in the mud. The conditions underfoot were not an
excuse for the ineptitude on show as City huffed and puffed
in midfield without ever looking like getting something to show
for their endeavours. Too often, the final pass went astray
as 'Fleet got bodies behind the ball to protect their lead.
The game produced few shots on target and even the goal came
from one that was wayward. Stacy Long's free-kick clipped Richard
Brodie on the edge of the wall and looped past a wrong-footed
Tom Evans for 1-0.
And that was about it in terms of action.
There were some nice touches. Ben
Purkiss launched a series of raking, cross-field, Beckham-esque
balls wide for Nicky
Wroe and Martyn
Woolford, but too often it came to naught. Woolford cut
in from the left to shoot with his right, bringing out a fine
save from Lance Cronin, but his right foot isn't his best attribute,
so Walker switched Woolford to the right and debutant Chris
Hall to the left. While that's fine if you have your wingers
cutting inside, it does rather restrict the crossing potential,
though Hall did have a shot well saved during a bright if frustrating
debut, which was pretty much a the game in microcosm.
Ebbsfleet, with few of their 25,000 owners in attendance, could
have gone two up just before the break and would have but for
a crucial tackle from Danny
Parslow who continued to shine in what is proving to be
a great season for the Wales C international. The changes had
little impact, though it wasn't for lack of effort on Simon
Rusk's part. Again, that kind of summed the whole game up: no
lack of effort, but little to show for it. Leo Fortune-West
struggled to get into the game and pushing Woolford up front
saw City lose any initiative they did have in midfield and the
game rather petered out, despite Raphael Nade's late effort
which blazed over after a neat exchange of passes on the edge
of the box.
The most frustrating thing about the game was that City were
much better than they were on Tuesday night, but came away with
nothing rather than the point gained against Northwich. That's
football.
Ref: M Naylor
The Teams
York City: Evans; Purkiss, Parslow, McGurk,
Robinson; Hall (Elliott 52), Panther (Rusk 76), Wroe, Woolford;
Brodie (Fortune-West 62), Sodje.
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