It was hard to tell whether York City should be disappointed they let two points slip away or relieved that they at least salvaged one.

NEW BOY: City debutant John Keegan challenges Southend's Mark Beard

At half-time they had to be happy that they were still trailing by just one goal yet, having battled back to lead 2-1 midway through the second period, had they had enough wit about them then all three points could have been theirs.

That really would have been a travesty as Southend, guided by ex-City boss Alan Little and boasting a trio of former Minstermen in their starting line-up, had bossed the game for long periods and will have left Bootham Crescent thinking that they had forgone two points rightfully theirs.

That impression will have been further reinforced by the fact that the Shrimpers deserved a penalty on 68 minutes, while still leading 1-0, yet referee Mike Halsey seemed to be the only person in the ground who thought that City defender Mark Sertori used anything but his hand to prevent Gordon Connelly's deep cross reaching an unmarked Neil Tolson at the back post.

But all the same City had to be happy that a point was earned and that the goal drought was finally ended on 70 minutes when Marc Williams' smart shot on the turn found the corner of the Southend net bringing York's spell without a goal to a close at 421 minutes.

But in a contest that was exciting if only for the amount of incident rather than its quality, it was Southend who made all the running, particularly in the first half.

While Christian Fox's snapshot just wide of the target on seven minutes might have given York reason to be optimistic, the pattern soon set itself with Southend controlling possession with more comfort and they should have been in front on the quarter hour.

Kevin Maher whipped the ball in from the left and with City's defence seemed to be drawn like sheep to the near post the ball arrived at the back stick and Dave Morley seemed to be totally non-plussed by the fact that he did not have a defender within five yards of him and promptly skewed a hurried shot wide when he had all the time in the world to bring the ball down and beat Bobby Mimms in the City goal which ever way he pleased.

It looked very wasteful as clear cut chances were few and far between as both sets of strikers toiled chasing some fairly aimless passes, City's Marc Williams in particular being an ever willing chaser of lost causes and he was seemingly not frustrated in the slightest by the poverty of the service that he was being given.

On 27 minutes Southend went close again when Maher struck a shot over the bar from a half cleared corner, but then City went within a whisker of opening the scoring from a corner of their own with Colin Alcide meeting Scott Jordan's cross with a good downward header only to find Nathan Jones was perfectly positioned to whack the ball off the goal line.

City's frustration at their failure to impress themselves on the game led to first Fox, for kicking the ball away, and colleague Chris Fairclough, for a foul, being cautioned and United almost made their superiority tell on 38 minutes when ex-City man Martin Carruthers played in another old boy in Connelly, but Mimms was equal to his low drive and turned it round his left hand post.

Two minutes later Mimms was not in quite such confident mood as centre back Fairclough called the keeper to come and claim a tame through ball.

However, Mimms was slow off his line and Fairclough in turn failed to notice and clear and between them they allowed Carruthers to win the ball in the penalty area and then pull a smart pass back for Connelly to roll into an unguarded net.

City midfielder Steve Agnew was added to the list of booked players for a foul just before half-time and as the whistle went for the interval City could only feel that things had to improve as getting any worse was not really an option - or even possible.

At the interval Andrew Dawson made way for John Williams and manager Neil Thompson's decision to go out and attack Southend proved to be a good one.

Within minutes of the restart John Williams was making his presence felt and that created room for Marc Williams, but their first break came to nothing as the latter found himself without support as the Southend defence closed him down at the edge of the penalty area.

United countered and York had a let off when 18-year-old left back John Keegan, who was quietly impressive on his City first team debut, made a brave block as Morley tried to get a shot on goal from close range.

Soon after a Tolson shot had to be blocked by Sertori only this time the ball lopped goalward rather than to safety and a back-peddling Mimms need to get a touch on the ball to ensure that it cleared the crossbar.

On 59 minutes it was Mimms opposite number Mel Capleton who had to be alert and he got down well to hold a well placed John Williams header following a good cross from Fox.

It was nine minutes later that the Gods smiled on Sertori as his hand seemed to make contact with the ball as Tolson went sniffing for a goal against his former club, and fortune favoured City again two minutes later.

United's defence had been very tight in their marking but for once they relaxed and Marc Williams made them pay as he controlled a ball in from the left neatly and as the ball sat up he hit a fine shot on the turn to give Capleton no chance.

The goal drought over City suddenly found that scoring was a piece of cake as a second arrived just five minutes later.

A Morley foul on Matt Hocking 20 yards out gave Scott Jordan a chance to shoot and, aided by Capleton's uniquely inept positioning, was able to get the ball up and over the wall and into the unguarded right hand corner of the net with the keeper stranded at the other post.

Once in front City now needed to show their resolve and fight it out to keep their points but they never really looked capable.

While John Williams had a shot blocked and Jordan pulled another effort wide, it was the Shrimpers who got back on top for the final quarter hour.

They gained their equaliser with 10 minutes to go with Tolson's header brining a superb save out of Mimms but at full stretch the City keeper could only claw the ball on to the bar and there was Carruthers to force the ball over the line from close range.

Carruthers then put a volley over the top, and both Scott Houghton and Tolson tried their luck from 20 yards as Southend sought a late winner.

It was not to be and City at least had a point - and probably had to feel happy to even have that.

Fans' meeting

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.