TUESDAY’S 0-0 draw at Morecambe might have ended York City’s 11-game wait for a clean sheet but that double-figured sequence still falls way short of the club’s longest-ever run without a shut-out.

Agonisingly, from April to December 1949, the Minstermen went a club record 29 matches without keeping the opposition off the scoresheet with the unfortunate Matthew Middleton playing between the sticks for every one of those fixtures.

That history-making seven-month spell spanned two seasons, in which Middleton claimed just six clean sheets during his 56-match Bootham Crescent career.

The second campaign – 1949/50 – would see Tom Mitchell’s City side finish bottom of the old Third Division North, effectively propping up the whole Football League – a position the club would go on to occupy outright in 1965/66, 1980/81 and, most damagingly, 2003/4 which resulted in relegation to the Conference.

In 1965/66, the Minstermen, managed by Tom Lockie, also endured their longest run of matches without a shut-out in a single season, as opponents in the old Third Division (now League One) found the net in 23 consecutive games from September to January.

That period coincided with the imminent retirement of 1955 FA Cup semi-final Happy Wanderers’ legend Tommy Forgan who, with 120, still holds the club record for career clean sheets.

The hapless Harry Fallon failed to manage any shut-outs in his first 20 outings after displacing Forgan, shipping seven goals at QPR and six against Swindon in the process.

Eventually, Forgan was recalled at the age of 36 to end the record-breaking run with a 1-0 win at home to Watford but he left the club eight appearances later, going on to play for Gainsborough Trinity and later Mitre in the York & District Football League. There are only two other teams, meanwhile, in the Bootham Crescent history books that have gone 20 matches without keeping rival sides at bay.

The most recent were the last to play in English football’s third tier for the Minstermen in 1998/99.

Alan Little was sacked and replaced by Neil Thompson, while current City striker Richard Cresswell was also sold by the club to Sheffield Wednesday for £950,000, during a sorry 20-game sequence that would contribute heavily to eventual relegation on the final day of the season.

Goalkeeping duties were shared by Bobby Mimms and Andy Warrington back then and right-back Andy McMillan played the last of his 492 games for the club, placing him second on the all-time appearance list behind Barry Jackson.

Chris Fairclough, Wayne Hall, Barry Jones, Andy Dawson and Thompson himself were also members of that leaky back-line.

The only other City side to equal that 20-match run in a season played in the pre-War period back in 1938/39 when Crewe scored eight, Rochdale seven and Bradford City six in big thrashings.


Carols chorus at St Luke’s

YORK City’s annual Christmas Carol Service will be held at St Luke’s Church, Burton Stone Lane, on Thursday, December 19, starting at 7pm.

Staff and players from Bootham Crescent will take part in a service of readings and carols and everyone is welcome to attend.

After the service, there will also be refreshments served in the Pitchside Bar.


End of year show’s teasing test

York Minstermen will hold their End of the Year Quiz in the Pitchside Bar on Thursday night.

It starts at 8.30pm and all the questions will be based on events from 2013.

It costs £1.50 per person to enter the quiz with a maximum of five members in any one team.

Prizes for the winning teams include beer, lager and drinks vouchers for use in the Pitchside Bar.

There will also be a fundraising raffle for a navvy’s breakfast, a bottle of gin, a bottle of sherry, a bottle of wine and a £10 voucher for Fleetways Taxis.


Luke out to reach pole position

ON-LOAN right-back Luke O’Neill has moved up to joint-second in The Press Player of the Year standings.

O’Neill was our man of the match during Tuesday night’s 0-0 draw at Morecambe to earn three points towards the contest.

The other points from the Globe Arena clash went to on-loan pair Nick Pope (two) and Keith Lowe (one) as our second and third-highest rated performers.

Lowe meanwhile, picked up the man-of-the-match award during last Saturday’s 2-1 defeat at Southend, collecting three points on his debut.

Striker Wes Fletcher (two points) and Josh Carson (one) were also recognised for their efforts.

The two bonus Player of the Month points from the Southend game were shared by debutants Lowe and Pope after they polled the most man-of-the-match votes from visitors to our webstite or tweets to the @daveflettpress Twitter account.

That honour was also split between David McGurk and Pope following the Morecambe match.

To be in with a chance of presenting November’s Player of the Month with their prize – a framed photograph – submit your man-of-the-match votes for today’s home match with Rochdale or tweeting @daveflettpress

The Press Player of the Year latest standings: Carson 17 points, Fletcher 12, O’Neill 12, Brobbel 11, McGurk 9, Montrose 9, Oyebanjo 9,Jarvis 8, Parslow 8, Smith 7, Bowman 5, Chambers 5, Clay 4, Ingham 4, Lowe 4, Pope 2, Puri 2, Whitehouse 2, Davies 1, Kettings 1.

The Press Player of the Month for November standings: Carson 8, O’Neill 8, Fletcher 7, Bowman 6, Lowe 5, Pope 4, McGurk 3, Jarvis 2, Montrose 2, Parslow 2, Kettings 1.

Goals: Jarvis 8, Fletcher 7, Bowman 4, Brobbel 3, Carson 3, McGurk 1, Montrose 1, O’Neill 1.

Assists: O’Neill 5, Bowman 3, Brobbel 3, Carson 3, Clay 2, Fletcher 2, Jarvis 2, Smith 2, Cresswell 1, Fyfield 1, Ingham 1, McGurk 1, Montrose 1, Oyebanjo 1.

Bad boys: Montrose six yellow cards; Whitehouse both five yellows; Smith four yellows; Bowman two red, one yellow; Oyebanjo three yellows; Cresswell one red, one yellow; Carson, Fyfield both two yellows; Chambers, Clay, Coulson, Davies, Jarvis, McGurk, O’Neill, Parslow, Platt all one yellow.