YORK City’s Christmas celebrations were soured after a shock goal from Ebbsfleet United goalkeeper Mark Cousins’ denied the Minstermen at the death.

The season of good cheer was spoiled for York supporters with controversy surrounding Ebbsfleet’s late equaliser, as City were forced to settle for a point in a 1-1 draw.

Lenell John-Lewis had opened the scoring with a prolific finish after latching onto Will Smith’s expert header, with York managing to hold onto their lead for the majority of the contest.

But amid the carnage of the match, it was Ebbsfleet who will leave the happier after goalkeeper Cousins met a corner in stoppage time to power home a header from close-range.

Repercussions could still be had after the refereeing performance of John Mulligan, with a brawl breaking out after the full-time whistle that will cast a shadow of York’s Christmas clash.

Ebbsfleet were newly-promoted to the National League after taking the Vanarama National League South by storm last campaign, with striker Dom Poleon leading the charge.

But after just one win in their last 14 matches, the Fleet have found themselves in the relegation zone heading into the mid-season point.

Ardley opted to make four changes to the side that managed a goalless draw with Rochdale last weekend, with Paddy McLaughlin, Olly Dyson, Luke Daley and the injured Callum Harriott all absent from the starting eleven.

In their place came Maz Kouhyar, Lenell John-Lewis, Thierry Latty-Fairweather and Olly Green, with City lining up in a 4-4-2 formation to counter Ebbsfleet’s attack.

Dipo Akinyemi was also back among the squad and named on the bench, picking up his first minutes since York welcomed Oxford City to North Yorkshire in mid-November.

But it would be Akinyemi’s usual partner in crime that would make an early impact, with John-Lewis striking early on his return to the starting eleven.

Ryan Fallowfield had back-to-back crosses that came to nothing, but he quickly learned from his mistakes with a long ball that landed onto the head of Will Smith, whose composed flick-on saw John-Lewis find space in behind before sweeping into the bottom left corner.

Ebbsfleet responded to their early setback with Greg Cundle causing problems on the left-wing, latching onto a loose ball before bending a stinging effort narrowly wide.

City were forced into an early change with Latty-Fairweather picking up a knock, seeing Tyler Cordner re-introduced into the eleven and Smith being forced to slot in at left-back.

Cordner was immediately involved when trying to shield the ball out of play, only for Poleon to brilliantly keep possession in and find Toby Edser, who somehow missed the target from eight-yards out.

Cundle then managed to squeeze past a Fallowfield challenge before pulling the ball back into the danger area, but a fantastic block from Cordner denied Ouss Cisse from bringing the scores level.

But Ebbsfleet were piling on the pressure and had to test George Sykes-Kenworthy at some point, with Poleon expertly turning Callum Howe before racing through one-on-one against a former teammate of his at Bradford City, only to be denied through a fantastic parry by the shot-stopper.

A short corner from Green and Scott Burgess saw Kouhyar receive possession on the edge of the box, but the winger could only curl an effort over the bar.

Sykes-Kenworthy then went down requiring treatment with both sides receiving orders from their manager, but it was Ebbsfleet boss Dennis Kutrieb who was the more vocal of the two, and could be heard describing his team’s performance so far as ‘embarrassing’.

The Fleet players looked to respond to their manager’s complaints on the stroke of half-time with Josh Wright seeing a strike comfortably held by Sykes-Kenworthy, before former Reading forward Dominic Samuel blasted a powerful effort whiskers wide.

Heading into the second half, it was York who started the stronger with John-Lewis testing Mark Cousins with a tame header from Kouhyar’s cross.

Davies then had his head in his hands after a low cross somehow evaded the all important touch from a red shirt, before substitute Dyson had a teasing cross agonisingly drop too high for John-Lewis at the back post.

It was then John-Lewis who looked to turn provider, with Burgess unable to turn home at the back post, before Ben Chapman slid a strike wide of the target from Poleon’s pass.

Rakish Bingham, who had experience of the Scottish Premiership with Hamilton Academical, entered the frame but couldn’t direct a shot on target after some neat footwork, only for his effort to end in the empty North Stand.

But with the two sides entering stoppage time and just one minute remaining of added time, the unthinkable happened.

A corner allowed Kutrieb to hand permission to goalkeeper Cousins to race forwards, where he latched onto Martin’s corner and netted a last-gasp equaliser to spoil City’s hopes of a potential three points.

The full-time whistle came to much controversy, with players surrounding referee John Mulligan and forcing a brawl to the middle of the pitch.

But York couldn’t undo the referee’s decision-making, and were instead forced to settle for a point at the LNER Community Stadium.

York City: Sykes-Kenworthy 7, Fallowfield 6, Howe 6, Smith 7, Latty-Fairweather 6 (Cordner 6, 19), Burgess 6, Woodyard 7, Green 6 (Dyson 7, 60), Kouhyar 6, Davies 6, John-Lewis 7 (Akinyemi 6, 74)

Subs not used: Stockdale, McLaughlin

Goals: John-Lewis (5)

Yellow cards: Woodyard (28)

Ebbsfleet United: Cousins, White, Chapman (McQueen, 74), Kenlock, Cundle, Edser, Cisse (Bingham, 63), Wright, Martin, Samuel, Poleon

Subs not used: Sterling-James, Tanner, Fanimo

Goals: Cousins (90+5)

Yellow cards: Martin (90+2)

York’s star man: Will Smith. A good performance from the defender who earned an assist and was solid throughout, even adapting to play in a left-back role in the first-half.

Referee: John Mulligan

Attendance: 4344 (92)

Shots (on target): 1 (2) | 6 (9)

Corners:  3 | 4

Offsides: 0 | 2

Fouls committed: 10 | 6