YORK College men's football first team booked their place in the ECFA Play-Off National Final at Port Vale's Vale Park after beating their Milton Keynes counterparts 1-0.

Fowler Education Football Academy will be the opponents on Friday, May 11.

The competition - which has been referred to as "the Champions League of college football" - will be the fourth national final in three years this i2i/York College development side has contested.

Ed Jackson's first-half wonder strike was the difference between the sides in a cagey affair at Sim Balk Lane that saw the hosts avenge their 3-2 defeat to Milton Keynes in the 2016 ECFA National Final.

Both sides began the game as expected, insisting on playing out from the back at all costs and with neither giving each other a sniff in front of goal.

The hosts worked their way into the ascendancy as they responded to Milton Keynes' lively start, with Jackson's free kick evading the head of Hunter before forcing the goalkeeper to bundle clear.

On 32 minutes, Jackson hit home the only goal of the game, firing in from 19 yards from Max Tweddle's composed set-up.

Milton Keynes came close to levelling - the closest they came all game - six minutes from the break when the number 10 pulled off into space and leathered a strike off the underside of the crossbar for keeper Nick Lock to pounce on gleefully.

The second half was even more tight and tense as the visitors threw everything at York in the swirling wind in search of an equaliser.

Both sides took a more direct approach, while Owen Marshall and David Barber continued to defend outstandingly against a huge Milton Keynes forward line.

Reece Kral in the centre of midfield was another stand-out performer as his crunching tackles and sheer hunger to win the ball back with a bite proved beneficial time and time again.

As coaches Michael Morton and Simon Collins nervously watched on, the opposition got in down the left-hand side once again but a weak shot straight at Lock restored calm.

Milton Keynes’ stopper was virtually an outfielder in the last 15 minutes as the visitors went all out for the leveller.

This did, however, create space in behind for full-back Daniel Omesibi to surge into the box before seeing his rising strike well saved high to the keeper’s right as York saw the game out to reach another national college final.