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Match Report: Kettering Town 0-1 York City |
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By Max Benson
A Michael Rankine goal after quarter of an hour made it an incredible 31 points out of a possible 33 for the Minstermen as they won by the odd goal at Rockingham Road.
A typically hard-fought display away from home earned City a crucial three points as promotion rivals Stevenage and Oxford lost and drew respectively.
Just like the 1-1 draw at Histon last Tuesday, chances were always at a premium but Rankine only needed one opportunity as he pounced on veteran defender Ian Roper’s slip.
Kwesi Appiah should have had the Poppies ahead early on after his shot from a rebound was deflected behind for a corner.
Michael Ingham then excelled himself with a top-class save, flying to his left to inexplicably tip over Roper’s powerful close-range header.
John Dempster nodded over a corner from the left just minutes later as the home side continued to exert pressure in the opening exchanges.
But it was the Minstermen who took the lead following a spell of relative dominance after just fifteen minutes.
Chris Carruthers’ corner was only half-cleared and Roper’s mistake from James Meredith’s follow-up saw Rankine pounce and fire home confidently into the bottom left hand corner.
End-to-end stuff followed the goal and, in truth, little happened of much importance until the 34th minute when James Dance fired into the outstretched gloves of Ingham.
Marcus Kelly was next to try his luck from 20 yards, blasting over a minute later.
The Minstermen made all the running immediately after the break and almost went two up when Carruthers’ centre from the left was well gathered by Poppies ‘keeper Nathan Abbey under pressure from Rankine and the returning Richard Brodie.
The 300-plus City fans on the away terrace nearly had a second goal to celebrate just before the hour when Brodie found space on the left before blasting a cross along the face of Abbey’s goal.
Good work from Daniel Parslow came to nothing from the follow-up as he made himself a chance before shooting into the side-netting.
Rankine’s customary combative style has earned him plenty of fans at York City, but it didn’t win him many friends at Rockingham Road and Martin Foyle was effectively forced to take the former Rushden & Diamonds striker off.
The burly forward was removed following a lecture from referee Wigglesworth after an aerial challenge with Rankine already on a booking.
Ingham then produced another quality save when he halted Anthony Robinson’s flick-on at ground level after a run from former Oxford winger Kelly down the left.
Appiah missed a snapshot on the edge of the box after meeting a square ball as time ran out, driving wide of the left hand post.
Lee Harper’s side showed signs of increasing desperation against a resolute City back line when Dance blazed over from long range with better options available to him.
Pickings were slim right through the second half but Ben Purkiss came close to his second goal in as many games when he flicked a Carruthers free kick wide after Brodie had been flattened by James Jennings.
City were relatively untested throughout the second half, though, and it never felt like they were hanging on as a seventeenth league victory of the campaign was chalked up.
It was another impressive win based on a rock-solid defence against a useful side, leaving the Minstermen a tantalising one point away from the summit of the Blue Square Premier table.
Line-Ups
York City (4-4-2) – Ingham, Parslow, McGurk, Graham, Meredith, Purkiss, Lawless (Barrett 90+3), Mackin, Carruthers (Gash 86), Brodie, Rankine (Sangare 65)
Subs Not Used – Clarke, Pitt
Kettering (4-4-2) – Abbey, Thelwell, Roper, Dempster, Jennings, Hadfield, Dance, Wrack (Boucaud 62), Noubissie (Robinson 62), Kelly (Taylor 78), Appiah
Subs Not Used – Cooper, Thomas
Referee – R Wigglesworth
Yellow Cards – Lawless, Rankine (York City) Dempster, Roper, Jennings, Dance, Hadfield (Kettering Town)
Man of the Match – Luke Graham
Attendance – 1,375 (307 York)
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Upcoming fixtures at York City FC
24th August - AFC Barrow - 7.45pm KO
28th August - Altrincham 3pm KO
4th September - Rushden & Diamonds 3pm KO
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