Unlucky Minstermen handed seventh successive FA Cup away tie (From York Press)

Unlucky Minstermen handed seventh successive FA Cup away tie

9:28am Saturday 22nd October 2011 in Diary By Dave Flett, Sports reporter

IF a home tie represents the luck of the draw in the FA Cup then somebody at York City must have run over a black cat.

When Gary Mills’ men were handed a fourth qualifying round trip to Wrexham this week, it marked the SEVENTH successive time the Bootham Crescent club have been drawn away in the competition.

For anybody struggling to appreciate how unlikely a sequence that is, try tossing a coin until you get seven consecutive heads or tails.

From all the clubs in the top five divisions of the game, only Newcastle United can claim poorer fortune in Cup draws.

The Magpies have not been given a tie at St James’ Park since February 2006 – a run encompassing eight matches.

City’s pairing with Wrexham, meanwhile, moved them one consecutive away draw clear of Yorkshire neighbours Leeds United.

In that time, Leeds have notably dumped out Manchester United at Old Trafford, while City have also not let a lack of home advantage prevent them from reaching the third round for the last two seasons when Premier League duo Stoke and Bolton have been their hosts.

Any fans of probability might also have their faith restored in the mathematical theory by the knowledge that the last time City were drawn at home in the Cup – for the 2009/10 first round clash with Crewe – that was the sixth successive Bootham Crescent tie they had been handed.

Surprisingly, the current run does not represent a club record either.

From November 1996 to November 2000, the Minstermen were drawn away nine times on the bounce with their best run during that time ending in a miserable 1-0 third round defeat at Hednesford Town.

The longest spell of consecutive home draws also stands at nine and lasted from January 1985 to November 1986, including the famous win over Arsenal and draws against Liverpool during their legendary era.

Mills, personally, has now overseen six away draws on the spin as a manager with his last Cup tie in charge of Tamworth resulting in a 2-0 defeat at Ilkeston.

And, while admitting he would welcome a home tie, the City boss maintains he will not be perturbed by a trip to Blue Square table-toppers Wrexham, where his side have already won 3-0 in the league this season.

He said: “Ideally, when you’re talking about getting to the first round proper, you’d like a home draw against a team from a lower division. But, if you’re drawn away, you don’t want to go to one of those sides.

“I’d prefer Wrexham because those lower-division teams have usually got a bit of Cup momentum at their own ground having been in the competition for a few games, whereas you’re going into it cold in a way. Last season, I promised the chairman that if we couldn’t beat Rotherham, we would bring them back to Bootham Crescent and I’ve promised the same again – that we won’t lose at Wrexham. I want to get through to the first round proper and pit my wits against a League One or Two team because I think my team would do well.

“In fact, I even watched Leicester v Watford in the Championship the other night and it wouldn’t frighten me to go to one of those two clubs in the third round. It didn’t when we went to Bolton last season and I feel we are a better side now.”

YORK City boss Gary Mills will be a guest of Harrogate Minstermen on Thursday night.

Mills will be available to answer supporters’ questions from 7.30pm at the Harrogate Conservative Club on East Parade and all members and non-members are welcome.

Harrogate Minstermen also offer travel to home and away games and anybody interested should visit the supporters’ group’s website at www.harrogateminstermen.com

Cash boost for community work

Lord Faulkner handed over a £12,000 cheque to York City in the Community before last Saturday’s home match with Grimsby.

The money was donated as part of the Football Conference Community Club Development Fund, which was formed following the Premier League’s £2 million solidarity agreement with the highest rung of the non-League game.

This new funding stream enabled City to expand their in-schools coaching to secondary schools in York and Selby last season.

New coaches were employed by the department and they spent eight months working up to three days a week at schools such as Huntington, Manor, York High, Tadcaster Grammar and Brayton High.

The community team have now put in a further application for grant aid this season to continue that work and launch two new potential projects.

Heaven 17 as Walker speeds towards treble

YORK City top scorer Jason Walker has opened up a sensational 17-point lead in The Press Player of the Year standings.

Walker was our man of the match in the home games with Grimsby and Cambrige, racking up six points towards the contest in the process.

The former Barrow forward is also a strong contender to win his third consecutive Press Player of the Month award, having also picked up the two bonus points on offer for the player who polled the most man-of-the-match votes from visitors to our website following the Cambridge match.

Against Cambridge, the other Press points went to Adriano Moké (two) and Paddy McLaughlin (one) as our second and third-highest rated players respectively.

The Grimsby match saw Scott Kerr (two) and Chris Smith (one) similarly rewarded, with the former winning the internet poll.

Don’t forget to vote for your City man of the match from today’s game against Hayes & Yeading.

By doing so, you could also win the chance to present the October Player of the Month winner with a framed photograph before a City home match.

The Press Player of the Year standings: Walker 28, Chambers 11, Ingham 8, Meredith 7, Smith 7, McGurk 6, Moké 6, Oyebanjo 6, Fyfield 5, Kerr 5, Boucaud 4, Blair 4, McLaughlin 4, Challinor 2.

The Press Player of the Month standings: Walker 13, Kerr 6, McLaughlin 6, Meredith 4, Challinor 3, Boucaud 2, Blair 2, Moké 2, Chambers 1, Smith 1.

Goals: Walker 14, Chambers 6, McLaughlin 4, Reed 3, Blair 2, Moké 2, Boucaud 1, Fyfield 1, own goal 1, Pilkington 1.

Assists: Chambers 7, Walker 5, McLaughlin 4, Meredith 4, Moké 4, Challinor 1, Henderson 1, Kerr 1, McGurk 1, Oyebanjo 1, Potts 1, Reed 1, Smith 1.

Bad boys: McGurk 5 yellow cards; Kerr 4 yellow; Boucaud, Walker both 3 yellow; Blair, Challinor, Fyfield, Smith all 2 yellow; Ingham, McLaughlin, Meredith, Moké, Oyebanjo, Parslow, Reed all 1 yellow.