City weather the storm to progress past Darlington in the FA Trophy

YORK City are into the next round of the Isuzu FA Trophy after a 3-1 win against Darlington.

Having fallen behind early on, York braved the conditions of Storm Darragh to respond and book their place in the fourth round of the FA Trophy, a competition they won in both 2012 and 2017.

Matty Cornish scored early on when latching onto a mistake at the back, prodding a low effort past Harrison Male.

Thankfully, City immediately responded as David Ajiboye scored his first for the club when racing through one-on-one and lifting the ball over Pete Jameson.

It would stay 1-1 until half-time, before a long-ranged effort from Ricky Aguiar, who had slotted in at centre-back, nestled into the bottom corner.

The Minstermen confirmed their progress in the Trophy as Ajiboye set Sinclair in the six-yard area, tucking home.

It was a welcome break from league action for York, who were guaranteed to remain at the summit in the National League as their FA Trophy campaign got underway.

The visitors were Darlington, managed by former City boss Steve Watson, who find themselves in 13th position of the National League North after 19 matches, with just one defeat in their last seven.

With Darlington’s visit to the LNER Community Stadium, the main talking point was the return of a number familiar faces to York, with eight players currently registered to the Quakers that had once representing City.

Of those eight, six were involved in the matchday squad, and five started, including York stalwarts Pete Jameson and Scott Barrow.

Cedric Main, Will Hatfield and Kallum Griffiths also started for the visitor, whilst Tom Platt was named amongst the subs by Watson.

One of the focal points for Hinshelwood in this week’s pre-match press conference had been where the FA Trophy rests in his priorities for the season, especially with York currently well within promotion contention from the National League.

However, Hinshelwood ruled out any talk of the FA Trophy being a throwaway competition for himself, with the boss targeting a visit to Wembley.

With that in mind, York named a strong squad for this afternoon’s match, with four changes from Saturday’s 6-2 win over Maidenhead United.

Jeff King had his first start, with David Ajiboye, Dipo Akinyemi and Ricky Aguiar all being introduced.

Ollie Pearce, Marvin Armstrong, Alex Hunt and Malachi Fagan-Walcott all dropped out, with the latter two not involved in the matchday squad.

Their absence brought opportunity for Paddy McLaughlin and Mo Fadera, who were both within the subs, as well as Billy Chadwick following his return from a loan at Boston United.

The weather was going to have clear implications on the match, and for York’s usual patient passing play, it was difficult at first to find any breakthrough against a solid Darlo outfit.

It was the visitors who had the opening opportunity, with Cornish’s header being held by Male at close-range, before an injury to Adam Crookes forced the City centre-back into an early substitution.

York City braved the conditions to battle to a 3-1 win over Darlington. (Image: Tom Poole) Aguiar was placed into centre-back, a position he has played in under Hinshelwood at Worthing in the past.

He wasn’t to blame as Darlington took the lead in the 14th minute, as a loose pass across the backline was intercepted by Cornish, who produced a composed finish past Male.

But York responded in a timely manner, as Ashley Nathaniel-George threaded an impressive through ball into Ajiboye, who lifted a precise finish past Jameson.

City pushed for a second but were thwarted on numerous occasions by Jameson, first keeping out a strike from Sinclair, before Akinyemi was denied with a header from seven-yards out.

Akinyemi was again made to rue his missed chances, as a pinpoint cross from King found the striker well-positioned, only for his volley to cannon off of the post.

Callum Howe had a header nudged narrowly over the Darlington crossbar, before Sinclair’s attempt at free-kick rolled wide of Jameson’s near post.

Darlington started the second 45 strongly, as Main, Griffiths and Caden Kelly all had strikes miss the target.

But York were able to weather the storm, of both Darlington and of Darragh, as a corner kick was cleared as far as Aguiar on the edge of the area.

He opened up his body before bending a superb strike into the bottom right corner, leaving Jameson rooted to the spot.

And just four minutes later, the match was wrapped up.

Some good passing from the Minstermen allowed Ajiboye to break in behind, who selflessly squared to an onrushing Sinclair, side-footing home from a couple of yards clear of goal.

Male was called into action in the closing stages when first punching away a strike by Platt, before keeping another Cornish effort from finding the back of the net.

York are now into the fourth round of the FA Trophy and registered back-to-back wins, keeping their impressive home record intact despite Darlington providing a good account of themselves.

YORK CITY: MALE 7, KING 6, HOWE 7, CROOKES (ARMSTRONG 6, 11), FELIX 7, BATTY 7, AGUIAR 8, NATHANIEL-GEORGE 7 (CHADWICK 6, 70), SINCLAIR 7 (FADERA, 82), AKINYEMI 5 (PEARCE 6, 61), AJIBOYE 8 (MCLAUGHLIN, 82)

SUBS NOT USED: WATSON, , THOMAS

GOALS: AJIBOYE (15), AGUIAR (69), SINCLAIR (71)

YELLOW CARDS: BATTY (60)

DARLINGTON: JAMESON, GRIFFITHS, LEES, FORBES, BARROW, CORNISH (LAMBERT, 60), HATFIELD (RIVERS, 86), FLINT (PLATT, 75), KELLY, SALKELD (MASKELL, 60), MAIN (ALSHABEEB, 86)

SUBS NOT USED: HEDLEY, MCGRATH

GOALS: CORNISH (13)

YORK’S STAR MAN: RICKY AGUIAR. A really impressive shift at an unknown position, and a brilliant goal too.

REFEREE: ANDREW MILLER

ATTENDANCE: 3316 (751)

SHOTS (ON TARGET): 11 (7) | 10 (5)

CORNERS: 4 | 3

FOULS: 8 | 8

OFFSIDES: 4 | 2