YORK City face a replay at Morpeth Town on Tuesday evening after they were held to a 1-1 draw at the LNER Community Stadium on Saturday.

The Minstermen enjoyed an opening 45 minutes very much on the front foot, rarely troubled at the back and probing the Morpeth defence plenty. What they will rue is that they only went into the break one goal to the good.

Yet despite all their good work in the final third, Mark Beck's header was one of only a few clear-cut chances created.

A 1-0 lead is always tenuous - and made to look even more so when Morpeth came out in the second period fired up.

Though far from a confident performance, City looked as if they had done just enough to contain them but, with 15 minutes remaining, Ben Sayer rose amid a crowd of shirts to nod the Highwaymen level. It was no daylight robbery, either.

Manager Steve Watson made three changes to the side that beat Southport 3-1 in National League North last Saturday.

Both Clayton Donaldson and Kurt Willoughby were retired to the bench for kick off, with Jason Gilchrist and Mark Beck coming into the front line.

At the back, Sam Fielding replaced Matty Brown in the centre of defence. Brown did not feature in the squad.

In the stead of Brown and Sean Newton, Paddy McLaughlin took the captain’s armband.

City took advantage of the two extra substitutes by – apart from Willoughby and Donaldson – naming a decidedly youthful bench. Jonny Haase was joined by fellow Academy players Jack Degruchy and Kyle Lancaster.

Morpeth’s caretaker manager Craig Lynch made four changes to the starting 11 from the midweek 2-0 defeat at South Shields.

Michael Turner, Jack Foalle, Ryan Donaldson and Sean Taylor all came into the side, with Christopher Reid, Ben Ramsey, Sam Hodgson and Wayne Phillips all dropping to the bench.

Taylor scored a hat-trick in Morpeth’s 6-1 first round qualifying win over Hyde United. He joined the club’s all-time top scorer, winger Liam Noble.

Former York striker Liam Henderson did not feature in the squad.

The first quarter of an hour was all City’s. Though Morpeth keeper Daniel Lowson was barely tested, his defence were most definitely being sounded out.

Olly Dyson was seeing a lot of the ball down the right and, after miscontrolling a couple of early balls, showed some endeavour to get at the Highwaymen’s back line. He had a nice dinked cross cleared away just before it reached Gilchrist’s head.

On the other side, Mackenzie Heaney had a couple of decent crosses cleared, while at the back, the four-man defence – comprising three central midfielders – had very little defending to do, though Jack Foalle was able to get forward and get away the game’s first effort on goal. He dragged it across Pete Jameson’s goal.

Beck broke the deadlock in the 26th minute from a Heaney free kick. City had upped their pressure with McLaughlin bursting into the area and getting away a good ball across goal. It was cleared but from there, City won their first two free kicks of the game, the latter of which was headed back across goal for Beck to simply nod in.

Jameson had had little to do as the game approached half-time but had to be alert to get down well to his left to stop Andrew Johnson’s low effort, which followed some decent first-time headed build-up play.

In front of him, on the right side of the centre-back pair, Akil Wright looked back to his composed best, reading the game well and picking out a good couple of passes.

Among the stand-out performers of the half must have been Harrison Hopper, who was everywhere he needed to be and had energy to burn. As the half wore on, he was the target of a bit of roughing up but did not look fazed.

City hearts were in mouths, and the Morpeth management team celebrating on the field, for a fraction of a second soon after the restart. Foalle got forward and pulled a good ball back across goal and the subsequent effort had Jameson beaten – but not Michael Duckworth, who pulled off a goal-line clearance.

Morpeth had come out in the second period with intent. Wright’s awareness and positioning came to the fore a couple of times, putting in a well-timed challenge on Johnson in the area to keep the marauding visitors at bay.

Unlike in previous games – Brackley at home a notable instance – York this time showed the wherewithal to respond, though had many more questions asked of them than in the first half.

The goal that was threatened arrived with 15 minutes to go. A ball into the area was knocked across the crowded goalmouth and Ben Sayer was on hand to loop a header over Jameson.

Riding the wave, Noble then had a decent effort from range tipped around the post by Jameson.

Donaldson, on for Beck, thought he had the winner with four minutes left. Following good work from Kyle Lancaster and Hopper, Heaney got a ball to the edge of the six-yard area, from where Donaldson volleyed home, but the assistant's flag was raised.

As they went for the winner, City's passing was hit and miss - and generally more of the latter. A loose pass from Willoughby ended at Morpeth feet and was worked to Ben Ramsey, whose curling shot from the edge of the area had to be tipped onto the bar by a stretching Jameson.

York: Jameson 6, Duckworth 5, Wright 7, Fielding 5, McLaughlin 6, Dyson 6 (Lancaster 6, 80), Woods 6, Hopper 7, Heaney 6, Gilchrist 5 (Willoughby 5, 61), Beck 7 (Donaldson 6, 70). Subs not used: Campbell, Haase, Cunningham, Degruchy.

Star man: Harrison Hopper. A lively, intelligent display all across the centre of the park from the young man.

Goals: Beck (26)

Morpeth: Lowson, Walton, Turner, Sayer (Oliver 77), Henderson, Morris, Foalle (Ramsey 90), Noble, Johnson, Donaldson, Taylor. Subs not used: Hodgson, Maddison, Phillips, Reid, Indalecio.

Goals: Sayer (75)

Referee: Ed Duckworth

Attendance: 2,258 (237 away supporters)

Stats for York / Morpeth

Shots (on target): 2 (2) / 7 (4)

Corners: 7 / 3

Offsides: 2 / 1

Fouls: 12 / 10