A LAST-GASP winner kept City of York Hockey Club men’s II on course for the Yorkshire League division one title.

The 2-1 home win over Slazengers I was City of York’s ninth win from 11 games and means they are seven points clear of Kingston-upon-Hull II.

The first half of the game was a scrappy affair, with mistakes from both sides.

York looked the better of the two sides and forced a string of penalty corners, but were unable to find a way through.

Midway through the half, a ball from the baseline was swept home by Dan Tompkins to give City the lead.

Five minutes before half-time, goalkeeper Jonathan Doyle made a superb reaction save with a glove to keep the lead intact.

Slazengers grew in confidence after the break and they got back on terms from a penalty corner.

In the final few minutes man-of the-match Doyle made a good double save, saving an initial penalty corner strike before reacting to block a follow up shot.

York then made one final push and won a penalty corner in the dying seconds. Dan Ellwood’s flick hit the inside of a post before going in.

An identical 2-1 victory for City of York III at home to Scarborough I gave them a six-point advantage at the top of division two.

York dominated the opening 20 minutes but were unable to translate that into goals despite going close through Tim Lister and Ben Foster.

The deadlock was finally broken when a melee in the opposition ‘D’ saw Chris Dutton take advantage of a loose ball and calmly shoot past the stranded Scarborough ’keeper.

However, silly mistakes allowed Scarborough to counter and, after forcing five short corners, the visitors levelled on a rebound after a save by Brian Ignjatovic.

York’s defence held firm under pressure after the break and midway through the second half Pat Herriott played a lovely ball to an unmarked Matt Hayes, who shot first time into the bottom right corner of the net.

The hosts survived a last-minute scare when a penalty corner was saved by Ignjatovic.

City of York IV picked up their third win of the division three season, beating hosts Sheffield University Bankers V 2-0.

Greg Sykes fired a pass to Seb Murgatroyd in the ‘D’ and he shot York into the lead midway through the first half. York playmaker Brendan Plant picked up an injury early in the second half, but the visitors went on to increase their lead when a cracking reverse-stick shot by Murgatroyd was turned in by Zach Moore.

City of York VIII moved up to third in division seven with a 3-2 win over previously unbeaten leaders Normanby Park II.

After a hat-trick of defeats, York bounced back to win with goals from James Wallis, Steve Forde and Rich Robson.

York enjoyed the lion’s share of possession and territory during the first half and a morale-boosting opening goal came from Wallis. Park quickly levelled, but Adam Iyer teed up Forde to restore York’s advantage.

The leaders got back on level terms before the interval, but York’s defence held firm in the second half and Iyer was pivotal in gaining the winning goal, a short pass finding scorer Robson.

Patched up City of York IX, who are bottom of division seven, crashed 4-0 at Wakefield VI.

City of York X (Badgers development team) continued their winning run with a 5-1 victory over Huddersfield Dragons.

Morgan Thomas broke through the Huddersfield defence and fired York into the lead on ten minutes.

Sam Engleman tapped in the second following a York short corner ten minutes before the break.

Thomas got his second goal shortly after the restart, with Andrew Hyams adding a brace of his own to put York 5-0 in front. Dragons scored a consolation short-corner goal on the final whistle.

The remainder of City of York’s teams – including the firsts in the North League premier division – saw their games fall foul of the weather.