YORK City made it drawn one, won one and lost one against their Yorkshire rivals pre-season as they drew 1-1 against Leeds United in an entertaining derby.

The Minstermen’s triallist opened the scoring with a powerful header from a corner after 23 minutes, which was cancelled out at the start of the second period by Leeds substitute Sam Dolby.

Remarkably, in a game in which the visitors gave away over 15 free kicks – admittedly some a little soft – only one card was collected throughout, with Hugo Diaz earning the dubious honour.

City went at Leeds from the off and had the better of the chances in the first half-hour although Leeds, with former Minsterman Ryan Edmondson in the line-up, had the first shot in anger through Yosuke Ideguchi.

Jordan Burrow had City’s first true sight of goal in the 10th minute after he had won a throw in from a long free kick, but his header from Sean Newton’s cross was well over.

Newton himself had a good chance as he stepped up to take a 25-yard free kick after Burrow had been pushed from behind, but keeper Kamil Miazek was able to push away his left-footed effort at the left-hand upright.

A Newton cross in from the left shortly after seemed to squirm its way into the area and hang up around the penalty spot without anyone making decisive contact.

Macauley Langstaff then had a couple of opportunities, first latching onto a loose ball in the area after Burrow had headed on for Alex Kempster, only be closed down quickly by Miazek.

The second in quick succession came after he won a free kick off Mateusz Klich down the left which was sent in by Griffiths for Triallist to put back across goal, where Langstaff headed over.

Langstaff then did very well to get onto a loose throw and work his way into the area and one-on-one with Miazek but only won a corner as the ball was taken from behind by a good recovering tackle.

Burrow’s ball in from the right made its way over everyone in the area and towards an unmarked Triallist, who headed back across the keeper and in to break the deadlock.

City looked for a quick second, but United captain and York College’s i2i Academy graduate Ronaldo Vieira did well to hold off Langstaff as he chased a through-ball.

There was a lull in clear-cut chances for both sides as the visitors looked for a way back into the game, and began to look threatening with Edmondson and Jamie Shackleton leading the line.

With eight minutes of the half remaining, Tom Pearce was brought down for only Leeds’ second free kick of the period to huge ironic cheers from the travelling fans. Lewis Baker’s effort was straight into the hands of Adam Bartlett.

Shackleton was almost played through but Kempster cleared the danger, showing strength to shepherd the ball out of play before Jack Clarke had a shot from outside the area straight into Bartlett’s gloves.

A minute before the break, Bartlett pulled off the best save of the half, standing up well to deny Shackleton from very close range after some pinball on the edge of the area had broken kindly for him.

Two minutes after the break, Langstaff had the ball in the net after Burrow had had a shot saved from point-blank range and a follow-up header came down off the crossbar, but he was called offside.

Leeds were level 10 minutes on after a left-sided corner broke to Jack Clarke on the edge of the area. His curling effort came down off the crossbar for Sam Dolby to prod in.

York had a chance to restore their advantage almost immediately as Kempster made a good run to play a pacey ball in from the left, but Wes York’s effort was wild.

The visitors now looked in the ascendancy, keeping City pegged back but without managing to break down the final line of defence.

Tom Pearce had a go from left of the goal, but skewed his shot out for a throw before Bencherif did well to dispossess and clear from Dolby in the area.

Klich brought a save from Bartlett with a dipping effort from distance which the former Magpies keeper could only punch out for a corner, from which Pearce got a chance to cross and Baker to send acrobatically over.

Clarke continued to look dangerous for United, making a couple of darting runs towards the area, wrongfooting David Ferguson with one but scuffing his shot just wide of the near upright.

The final 10 minutes was a tale of ‘almost’ passes as both sides looked for the winner – notably for City, Jake Wright collecting Jon Parkin’s through-ball only to be dispossessed from behind.

Parkin let fly with a long-range free kick in the 89th minute just after Hugo Diaz had picked up the first yellow card of the evening, but it was always going over.

York City: Bartlett, Griffiths (Wright), Newton, Bencherif, Triallist (Parslow), Penn (Ferguson), York (Steels), Heslop, Burrow (Law), Kempster (Parkin), Langstaff (Moke). Subs: Wright (60), Law (60), Parslow (45), Moke (60), Steels (65), Whitley, Parkin (60), Ferguson (60).

Leeds United: Miazek (Huffer), De Bock, Ideguchi, Vieira (c), Baker, Klich, Pearce, Clarke, Edmondson (45), Shackleton, Stevens (Dolby). Subs: Huffer (45), Dolby (45), Diaz (45), Rey.

Attendance: 4,400