THE ten men of York City overcame a second-half sending off to clinch their second victory of pre-season over Doncaster Rovers.

Despite the difference in divisions, York looked the more comfortable of the two sides with some patient play to grab the victory at the LNER Community Stadium thanks to a composed finish from winger Maziar Kouhyar.

But the performance and overall quality of the match was marred by a questionable refereeing performance, that included a number of cards being handed out in pre-season, and a controversial sending off against Thierry Latty-Fairweather in left-back.

Kouhyar’s header was the difference just after the hour mark, after a teasing Michael Duckworth cross was calmly headed home from close-range, as the Rovers players mistakenly left the Afghan international unmarked.

It wasn’t the only chance York generated either, with Cedric Main, Latty-Fairweather and Duckworth all coming close to adding to the scoreline throughout the ninety.

City are still yet to taste defeat in pre-season, after holding both Sky Bet Championship sides Sheffield Wednesday and Middlesbrough to draws on home soil, before a thumping 4-1 victory over Garforth Town in a behind-closed-doors friendly.

Tonight’s match against Doncaster also begins a run of four matches in seven days of York, with fixtures against Tadcaster Albion, Selby Town and Farsley Celtic all being played from Saturday through to Tuesday.

That all comes before a final pre-season friendly away to Sky Bet League Two side Accrington Stanley on Saturday, July 29 (3pm).

Morton chose not to include his new striker Dipo Akinyemi, after the forward joined for a hefty undisclosed fee from Ayr United on Sunday morning.

The York manager instead named a slightly rotated side for the opening forty-five, before making a number of changes shortly after the beginning of the first half.

Once again a trialist was involved for the Minstermen in the form of Adam Porter, formerly of Salford City and Stoke City, as well as Dylan Moonan, who only came off the bench in the dying minutes.

It took six minutes before either side really had any form of strike at goal, with Doncaster’s Kyle Hurst latching onto a loose ball before curling narrowly wide of David Stockdale’s goal.

Finlay Barnes has had a bright start to his City career by scoring against Sheffield Wednesday, and the former Norwich City youngster was again involved as he sprinted onto Main’s through ball, but an impressive last-ditch challenge saw the danger averted.

As well as acting as Head of Recruitment, Stockdale is doubling as the first-team goalkeeper for the season too, and showed his quality with a point-blank save against Joseph Olowu.

City did respond with back-to-back chances, firstly involving a fantastic challenge by Ryan Fallowfield which allowed Main to test Ian Lawlor with a close-range strike, before Latty-Fairweather burst down the wing and forced the goalkeeper to parry clear.

Fallowfield was again involved as he latched onto Barnes’ deep cross towards the back post, as the defender’s volley needed a smart stop from Lawlor.

From the resulting corner of Lawlor’s save, Adam Crookes came close to breaking the deadlock as he met Scott Burgess’ header, but could only drag the effort wide.

The match went quiet prior to the half-time break, all except a chance for an unmarked Richard Wood who nodded narrowly wide from a free-kick.

Heading into the second half, Hurst had another chance for the away side to find the breakthrough as he surged through on goal on the counter-attack, but the winger mistakenly slammed his strike wide.

Hurst would go onto regret that miss, as York didn’t take long to capitalise.

After winning the corner kick with some tricky footwork, Kouhyar met Duckworth’s teasing corner kick to calmly direct his header past a helpless Ben Bottomley in goal.

The match was thrown into confusion after Latty-Fairweather was shown a second yellow card in the 69th minute, after a high tackle on a Doncaster man that the referee ruled was too dangerous.

Duckworth did reinstate the faith in the City squad as his long-ranged free-kick rattled into the post, before Doncaster scrambled clear.

And with time running out for a Doncaster equaliser, it remained the Minstermen who were in control, as Kouhyar danced between two of the away side’s defenders before slicing his shot well over the Rovers’ crossbar.  

It’s a second win of pre-season and more cause for optimism for Morton’s York side, in the final pre-season friendly at the LNER Community Stadium before the season gets underway in just under three weeks time.

York City: Stockdale, Fallowfield, Sanders, Crookes, Latty-Fairweather, McClaughlin, Trialist A, Burgess, Barnes (Trialist B, 90), Main, Siziba

60th minute subs: Campbell, Cordner, Howe, Duckworth, Pybus, Dyson, Hancox, John-Lewis, Kouhyar

Yellow card: Burgess (16), Sanders (27)

Red card: Latty-Fairweather (69)

Goal: Kouhyar (62)

Doncaster Rovers: Lawlor, Sterry, Olowu, Wood, Maxwell, Close, Rowe, Broadbent, Sotona, Ironside, Hurst

Subs: Bottomley, Watson, Degruchy, Long, Faulkner, Allen, Biggins, Bailey, Molyneux, Taylor, Roberts, Miller, Flint, H Wood, Kuleya, Goodman

Yellow card: Degruchy (88)

York’s star man: Maziar Kouhyar. A bright performance upon coming on, terrorising the Doncaster defenders and causing issues, as well as being the difference in the final scoreline.

Referee: Marc Edwards

Attendance: 2515 (616)

Shots (on target): 4 (4) | 5 (1)

Corners: 3 | 4

Offsides: 0 | 5

Fouls committed: 17 | 11