YELLOW peril struck City of York Hockey Club men’s I as a last-gasp goal handed Sheffield University Bankers a 3-2 win in the North League premier division.

City of York were pegged back twice after taking the lead in each half at Energise and, with the game in the balance, both home full-backs were yellow-carded in the closing ten minutes.

The visitors made maximum use of their numerical advantage to snatch a late winner.

York had earlier taken the lead on five minutes when Alex Cockram picked out his brother, man of the match Rich, in the ‘D’ and he finished superbly.

The visitors regrouped and piled on the pressure, tackling hard and earning themselves a number of green cards as their commitment occasionally strayed over legal limits.

Stuart Smyth was on the receiving end of a particularly heavy challenge that resulted in a penalty corner for the home side.

Sheffield, meanwhile, were starting to make inroads and forced a steady string of penalty corners. From their fifth, they converted to make the score 1-1 at half-time.

At the start of the second half, York rediscovered some of their flowing hockey and a great passing move started by Ollie Couttie gave Michael Gamble a rare chance to score and he picked his spot from the top of the ‘D’.

Poor marking then handed Bankers another equaliser and from that point things went from bad to worse for York.

Despite a great save from Jon Chappell and one further chance for Smyth, the game started to run away from City as Bankers pressed hard around the ‘D’.

Then the late double blow effectively decided the outcome of the match.

There was a crashing 6-1 defeat in division three of the Yorkshire League for City of York IV at University of Leeds IV.

Meanwhile, City of York VI claimed inter-club bragging rights with a 3-2 victory over City of York V in Yorkshire League division five north.

The fifths took an early lead through Rob Chamberlain, but their visitors hit back with a goal from a short corner.

Chamberlain’s second goal – a well-placed push after a good individual run – restored the lead, only for a penalty flick to bring the sixths level before half-time.

The fifths shaded possession in an up-tempo second half, but their club rivals grabbed the winning goal late in the half.

In round two of the League ‘E’ Cup, City of York VIII beat Sheffield Bankers VIII 3-1 on penalties after the sides were locked at 2-2 at full-time.

York went on the offensive from the start, taking the game into Sheffield’s territory, but struggled to break through, despite good pressure.

Sheffield bagged the opening goal and before York could recover their composure the score was 2-0.

Will Broadbent got York back into the game, scoring from a short corner just before the half-time whistle.

Within minutes of the restart, Broadbent broke through again to score the equaliser.

As the final whistle sounded, York were in the process of mounting one last offensive from a long corner, but ran out of time.

In the shoot-out, Neil Barnes got the upper hand and saved three, while Tim Ball, Mikey Jacobsen and Ollie Harrison all scored to seal a well-deserved victory for York.