HAVING seen their side fail to score a first-half goal at Bootham Crescent in five months, patience has become a virtue for York City supporters.

It was, however, in short supply on Saturday with the Minstermen booed off the pitch as they headed for the interval goalless for a seventh successive home match.

The detractors should have had more faith.

Martin Foyle’s team have only lost one of those seven fixtures – this season’s curtain raiser against Kidderminster – and have now won the last three after second-half goals from Michael Rankine and Leon Constantine saw off the challenge of struggling Hayes and Yeading United.

Following some yawn-inducing opening periods, City do seem to get there in the end.

Inevitably, the team needs to work harder to find the back of the net since the departure of 37-goal talisman Richard Brodie but only in-form winger Peter Till offered any form of dynamism prior to a 52nd-minute switch to 4-3-3, which mirrored the visitors’ formation.

That move, along with Michael Gash’s introduction, seemed to revitalise Rankine and Constantine who, until that point, had been as subdued as the David Longhurst Stand, which has been noticeably and regrettably quieter in recent matches.

Full-backs Duane Courtney and James Meredith also removed the shackles that had restricted their first-half forward forays after the hosts broke the deadlock.

Earlier, centre-half David McGurk presented City’s biggest goal threat before the break.

The former Darlington defender, who has only netted once in his last 106 league appearances for the Minstermen, popped up twice in the first ten minutes to meet crosses from Alex Lawless and debutant Danny Racchi with his head.

His first effort cleared the crossbar but the second forced a fine near-post reflex save from visiting ’keeper Lee Harrison.

Rankine also directed a header on to the top of Harrison’s bar following a deflected Till shot.

But that was pretty much the sum of the first-half action as Hayes displayed little adventure, leaving on-loan signing Liam Enver-Marum up front as a lone striker and swamping the midfield with Jamie Hand sitting just in front of his back four team-mates.

The visitors did manage a couple of decent long-range strikes from Ahmed Deen and ex-Minsterman Peter Holmes early in the second half but Foyle’s tactical tweak proved the game’s turning point.

Moments later, Till drove wide of Harrison’s near post after drifting inside from the left flank before a long ball undid City’s opponents not for the first time this season.

A thumping 56th-minute clearance from Daniel Parslow down the middle of the pitch saw Rankine shrug off the attentions of Hayes defender Lewis Ferrell before guiding a ten-yard shot past an advancing Harrison with the outside of his right boot.

Shortly afterwards, Lawless embarked on a driving run before feeding Gash on the right flank.

Gash’s cross was then met by a sliding Meredith, who was only denied his first senior goal by an Adam Bygrave block.

City made maximum points certain on 72 minutes after Gash had found an overlapping Courtney. His centre was only cleared as far as Gash, whose header reached Constantine six yards from goal. The former Leeds United forward controlled the ball and then fell backwards to overhead kick into Harrison’s bottom right-hand corner.

Rankine fired just wide as he searched for a second goal but a slight blemish for the home team saw Lawless receive his fourth booking of the season for a lunge on Tom Cadmore, leaving him one caution away from suspension.

In stoppage time, on-loan QPR left-back Lee Brown forced Michael Ingham into only his second save with centre-backs McGurk and Parslow imperious in front of him as City enjoyed a fourth consecutive clean sheet at home.


Match facts

York City 2 (Rankine 56; Constantine 72), Hayes and Yeading 0

York City: Michael Ingham 7, Duane Courtney 7, David McGurk 8, Daniel Parslow 8, James Meredith 7, Peter Till 7, Neil Barrett 7, Alex Lawless 7, Danny Racchi 6, Leon Constantine 7, Michael Rankine 7.

Substitutions: Michael Gash 7 (for Danny Racchi, 52), Jonathan Smith (for Leon Constantine 81).

Subs not used: David Knight, Greg Young, David McDermott.

Key: 10 – Faultless; 9 – Outstanding; 8 – Excellent; 7 – Good; 6 – Average; 5 – Below par; 4 – Poor; 3 – Dud; 2 – Hopeless; 1 – Retire.

City’s star man: Parslow – showed great character to bounce back from his error last weekend and never put a foot wrong.


Hayes and Yeading: Lee Harrison, Lewis Ferrell (James Mulley, 78), Adam Bygrave, Tom Cadmore, Lee Brown, Andy Yiadom (Michael Malcolm, 65), Peter Holmes, Jamie Hand, Bradley Pritchard, Ahmed Deen, Liam Enver-Marum (Elliott Buchanan, 87).

Subs not used: Phil Appiah, Josh Lennie.


Booked: Lawless 88.

Shots on target: City 7, Hayes 2.

Shots off target: City 4, Hayes 8.

Corners: City 3, Hayes 5.

Fouls conceded: City 7, Hayes 10.

Offsides: City 1, Hayes 1.

Referee: Paul Hodskinson (Preston). Rating: missed fouls and failed to play the advantage rule but his mistakes did not cost either side.

Attendance: 2,252 (17 from Hayes).

Save of the match: Harrison’s early stop to keep out McGurk’s header.

Move of the match: Lawless’ driving run and Gash’s cross that led to a far-post chance for Meredith.


Head to head - Danny Racchi v Lewis Ferrell

Handed a surprise debut by Martin Foyle, former Bury midfielder Racchi struggled to make an impact on the left flank for the Minstermen.

He did manage a fine tenth-minute cross that saw David McGurk denied by a good Harrison save.

Ferrell, though, was frequently allowed to travel forward during the early stages before Racchi swapped flanks with Peter Till and moved into an inside-right role to assist Alex Lawless and Neil Barrett before being substituted on 52 minutes.