York City cruelly denied by Rotherham late show at New York Stadium

10:06pm Tuesday 26th February 2013 in Sport Photograph of the Author By Dave Flett, Sports reporter

YORK City were cruelly denied their first win in ten games when promotion contenders Rotherham United grabbed a 94th-minute equaliser.

The Minstermen had been comfortably the better side at the New York Stadium and deserved the lead that Matty Blair gave them on 64 minutes.

But Daniel Nardiello pounced right at the death to deny Gary Mills’ men a first victory since New Year’s Day.

City fielded the same starting line-up that faced Oxford during Saturday’s 0-0 draw at the Kassam Stadium.

The hosts, meanwhile, included former Minsterman Andy Warrington in goal on his 200th League appearance for the Millers.

But midfielder Danny Kearns, who spent seven weeks on loan with City earlier in the season, was ruled out for Steve Evans’ men due to a hamstring injury.

The Minstermen, buoyed by great support from the away end, started the game brightest with Ashley Chambers volleying at Warrington on five minutes after Lanre Oyebanjo’s long throw had only been half-cleared.

John McGrath also saw a 25-yard effort deflected wide as City dominated possession.

Rotherham largely resorted to route-one rubbish in response, aiming for 6ft 3in tall striker Alex Revell’s head at every available opportunity.

On 15 minutes, Revell headed over from a Nardiello right-wing cross and Lee Frecklington also shot wide from 25 yards, following a free-kick that saw Oyebanjo cautioned for a trip on Kieran Agard.

But it was the visitors who continued to carry the greater attacking threat with Jason Walker rattling the crossbar from 15 yards after McGrath released him through the right channel.

Blair also tied Millers’ centre-back Claude Davis in knots with a direct run into the home penalty box before firing across the face of goal.

At the other end, Michael Ingham kept out a curling David Noble free-kick before Nardiello missed a great opportunity in first-half stoppage time.

The former Manchester United reserve broke clear on City’s goal but, with Ingham advancing, lifted the ball over from ten yards. Revell headed wide from a Kari Arnason long throw with the first opportunity of the second period and Johnny Mullins also missed the target after rising highest to meet Noble’s corner.

But, within seconds, City had broken upfield and Blair exchanged passes with Walker before charging clear on goal. His sidefooted finish was brilliantly kept out low to his left by Warrington, however.

Blair was in no mood to pass up a second chance, though, when given another one-on-one run at Warrington.

This time, after glancing to his left to check he was onside, Blair went round Warrington and rolled the ball into an unguarded net.

Arnason then saw a deflected 25-yard drive narrowly clear Ingham’s crossbar and the Icelandic international also headed the consequent corner into the City ’keeper’s hands.

On 74 minutes, Ingham needed to react smartly at his near post following Jack O’Connell’s sliding interception from a Ben Pringle cross.

Nardiello then sent a 15-yard opportunity out for a throw-in and Mills’ team looked to be safeguarding maximum points with few problems.

But, in the fourth of five added-on minutes, substitute Michael Rankine failed to cut out a left-wing Pringle cross and Nardiello beat Ingham from six yards.

Comments(22)

openallhours says...
10:41pm Tue 26 Feb 13

Another game without a win and the drop zone gets even closer.

Come 'Gary Clappers', tell us why Mills is the man to manage this club.

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tips says...
10:43pm Tue 26 Feb 13

Gutted not to take 3 points , let's hope for a full house on Saturday and finally get the three points we should have had tonight

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PhilR@Strike says...
10:48pm Tue 26 Feb 13

What was the point in bringing on Rankine on the 90th minute? Sounds like it disrupted the team, at such a crusial time? Shaking my head and not the first time at Milles decision making?

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neutral observer 2 says...
10:53pm Tue 26 Feb 13

openallhours wrote:
Another game without a win and the drop zone gets even closer.

Come 'Gary Clappers', tell us why Mills is the man to manage this club.
Working again ?
Thought not.

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Tug job says...
11:27pm Tue 26 Feb 13

Don't encourage him, he'll only work himself into another hissy fit - like many people with delayed neurological development he thrives on trading insults and pointless argument - the posts always have to end up being about him. City played very well tonight , they were much the better team, and were desparately unlucky not to take all three points. The last two performances have been very encouraging and we just need to keep this improvement going. COYR

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openallhours says...
11:27pm Tue 26 Feb 13

neutral observer 2 wrote:
openallhours wrote:
Another game without a win and the drop zone gets even closer.

Come 'Gary Clappers', tell us why Mills is the man to manage this club.
Working again ?
Thought not.
Hi there, I'm glad that there's people like you posting on here. That's because, if we finish the season in a relegation place you and your friends can write a letter to the football league demanding that we stay in the division because;

a) Gary's the best manager we've ever had and he has a good win percentage
b) Des Lyttle is the best defensive coach that's ever lived
c) we won twice at Wembley last season so how dare you
d) Ashley Chambers is a promising footballer
e) we've had lot's of 'massive points' this season
f) if you don't let us stay up we'll use an anonymous internet forum to call you names.

Have I missed anythin

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YO1 says...
11:29pm Tue 26 Feb 13

openallhours wrote:
Another game without a win and the drop zone gets even closer.

Come 'Gary Clappers', tell us why Mills is the man to manage this club.
You obviously didn't go tonight, otherwise you wouldn't be the first to critisize again.

I can't be bothered to explain, get off your backside and support the club.

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TOMCODYYCFC2469 says...
11:35pm Tue 26 Feb 13

Great performance tonight very unlucky
not to win,Give Gary a break he has the players playing well again the wins will come.

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GreenshawGrinder says...
11:37pm Tue 26 Feb 13

Close but not close enough, this could still prove to be a valuable point. Other results went against us, so now only four points clear of the bottom two.

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sixtyfourfive says...
12:19am Wed 27 Feb 13

openallhours wrote:
neutral observer 2 wrote:
openallhours wrote:
Another game without a win and the drop zone gets even closer.

Come 'Gary Clappers', tell us why Mills is the man to manage this club.
Working again ?
Thought not.
Hi there, I'm glad that there's people like you posting on here. That's because, if we finish the season in a relegation place you and your friends can write a letter to the football league demanding that we stay in the division because;

a) Gary's the best manager we've ever had and he has a good win percentage
b) Des Lyttle is the best defensive coach that's ever lived
c) we won twice at Wembley last season so how dare you
d) Ashley Chambers is a promising footballer
e) we've had lot's of 'massive points' this season
f) if you don't let us stay up we'll use an anonymous internet forum to call you names.

Have I missed anythin
Your posts are becoming increasingly boring and it is obvious you are clueless when it comes to understanding football. No club needs so called "supporters" like you - do you ever say anything constructive? If you had been there tonight you would have witnessed an excellent team performance - desperately unlucky not to take 3 points.

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neutral observer 2 says...
6:13am Wed 27 Feb 13

openallhours wrote:
neutral observer 2 wrote:
openallhours wrote:
Another game without a win and the drop zone gets even closer.

Come 'Gary Clappers', tell us why Mills is the man to manage this club.
Working again ?
Thought not.
Hi there, I'm glad that there's people like you posting on here. That's because, if we finish the season in a relegation place you and your friends can write a letter to the football league demanding that we stay in the division because;

a) Gary's the best manager we've ever had and he has a good win percentage
b) Des Lyttle is the best defensive coach that's ever lived
c) we won twice at Wembley last season so how dare you
d) Ashley Chambers is a promising footballer
e) we've had lot's of 'massive points' this season
f) if you don't let us stay up we'll use an anonymous internet forum to call you names.

Have I missed anythin
Worried about your banning order finishing after we get relegated?

Report this post »

rogue84 says...
7:06am Wed 27 Feb 13

it's obvious that some people on here don't go to games because that was one of the best performances of the season.
if one, some or all of the players are reading this, congratulations on an excellent performance. man-for-man we were comfortably the better side against a team 4th in the table and it was devastating to concede that equaliser.
keeping O'Connell at the back is vital to us staying up, he is a class act.

quick mention for the refeee...jeez i thought we'd left the part-timers behind in the conference. this guy was horrendous, literally changing his mind on the spot and even giving his own offside decisions. despite that, there's still no excuse for the odious steve evans moaning, shouting and waving his hands around after EVERY decision that went against his team.
that win will come, i am more than confident after that performance.

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redbluelion says...
7:11am Wed 27 Feb 13

why bring rankine back here just to sit him on the bench.he should have started the game.hes the type of player we need to score a few goals and help create chances in front of goal.a missive 2 points lost again tonight.bad manager making the wrong choices.that trap door is getting closer.a point a game is no good to us.

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uhtred says...
7:26am Wed 27 Feb 13

openallhours wrote:
Another game without a win and the drop zone gets even closer. Come 'Gary Clappers', tell us why Mills is the man to manage this club.
Bet you were really worried when it looked like we were going to win, nothing to post a wind up about! Why are you so negative when we have taken a point away to one of the top teams.

It's easy to criticise but what the team needs is support. Everyone knows we have not been performing well it does not need the likes of you to point that out with purely negative criticism, how about constructive criticism or is that abhorent to you.

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big mobe says...
7:53am Wed 27 Feb 13

D%%n fine performance- ref and officials a joke, where do they get them from,luckybags? Officials at City matches always seem to have a downer on us,almost think its a conspiracy ?

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redbluelion says...
8:20am Wed 27 Feb 13

big mobe wrote:
D%%n fine performance- ref and officials a joke, where do they get them from,luckybags? Officials at City matches always seem to have a downer on us,almost think its a conspiracy ?
well steve evens said he thought the ref must have come with york team,it was all one sided.and the linesman gave offside everytime mills shouted offside.

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rogue84 says...
8:37am Wed 27 Feb 13

redbluelion there was no reason to use ranks last night, walker played very well last night. the centre-halves were getting dragged all over the place....which lead to him hitting the crossbar first half, the chances for chambers and blair, and ultimately the goal.
going forward i thought we were much improved, and it was exactly how 4-3-3 should work, the striker battling away and the wide-men running the channels and crossing over.

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PositiveFootball says...
8:59am Wed 27 Feb 13

Unable to get there last night but sounds like an excellent performance poorly rewarded. Of course the points are crucial but what has been shown over recent games has been really encouraging and the wins will come.

BTW We need to discourage the abusive/negative poster on this site by treating him with the distain he deserves i.e. ignore him!

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bertieb says...
9:12am Wed 27 Feb 13

Heart-breaking. Still, if we play like we did last night for the rest of the season, we won't go down.

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OLD - HEAD says...
10:11am Wed 27 Feb 13

I was at Rotherham last night and I am as gutted as everyone else that they equalised in the 94th minute. I would love to put on my rose-tinted glasses and drool over Citys play, but seriously I am getting really worried. We are now so close to the bottom two that we could be one of them within a couple of games. So lets not get carried away by last nights result. Players like Danny Parslow and Matty Blair are being played outside their comfort zones. Danny has been brilliant this season but left back is his least effective position. For my money Matty Blair can only play in one position and that is wide on the right. Scott Kerr and Ashley Chambers are sadly a mere shadow of last seasons players. Fatty Evans brought on two nippy lads in the final few minutes, and thats what pulled them out of the mire, after they never really looked like scoring. We must get back to basics and play players in their best positions before its too late. Before anyone accuses me of being a negative whinger, I can assure you that for almost sixty years York City have been my club and the only team that I have ever passionately supported. And I would be absolutely gutted to see us drop out of the Football League for a second time.

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lifelong says...
10:28am Wed 27 Feb 13

Reading 'openallhours' infantile comments I thought all the asylums had been closed in the 1980's but obviously one of the inmates still remains in the vicinity.
I didn't go to Rotherham but listened to the Parker/Jones show and their views on what must have been the worst official (from Wakefield incidentally) City have had this season. How on earth are these officials promoted from non league football. I only hope that our Management have a feed back on these guys to the referees HQ! And what about the official on the sidelines. He had to put up his board 5 times for substitutions, no trainer was called on the pitch, and yet he interpreted this as 5 minutes when the cumulative figure would normally have been rounded up to 3 minutes!!! Another failure at O level maths!
This aside York's improved form continues, showing great resolution, team spirit and determination and my congratulations to Mills and all at the Crescent for recent performances. Well done also to the 700 fans who made the journey and almost lifted the team to a deserved victory. It would be great if we could lick Bradford on Saturday!

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skilly says...
9:49pm Wed 27 Feb 13

redbluelion wrote:
why bring rankine back here just to sit him on the bench.he should have started the game.hes the type of player we need to score a few goals and help create chances in front of goal.a missive 2 points lost again tonight.bad manager making the wrong choices.that trap door is getting closer.a point a game is no good to us.
Actually 11 points would probably be enough but take your point

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