York City 3 St Ives Town 0

Emirates FA Cup 3rd Qualifying Round 06-10-18

Ives record breaking FA Cup run came to an end at historic if now somewhat ramshackle Bootham Crescent against the once mighty Minstermen. They found themselves up against it even before the kick off losing the all action qualities of Tom McGowan to a one game ban courtesy of the new FA Cup totting up procedure. McGowan’s replacement was striker turned midfielder George Bailey who took his place in what looked like a very attacking Ives line up.

The visitors created the first half chance from the games first free kick in eighth minute as Jarvis Wilson rose highest to Robbie Parker’s ball in from the right but he was always stretching and could not keep his header down.

Having gone close the visitors found themselves behind only ninety seconds later as Jake Wright sped away down the centre with Ives defenders vainly appealing for offside. The Minstermen’s striker cleverly drew Sam Wilson to him before slotting the ball past the exposed keeper low to his left into the bottom corner of the net.

Ives reacted well to falling behind and came within inches of an equaliser four minutes later. Once more the chance came from a free kick curled in from the right by Parker. Jarvis Wilson was again the man who timed his run to perfection and got on the end of it but steered his side footed effort agonisingly wide from an excellent position with keeper Adam Bartlett rooted to the spot.

Sam Wilson kept his side in the game in 21st minute as he pulled off an excellent reaction save to deny Jordan Burrow from close range after the striker had powered in a close range header from a David Ferguson cross from the left. Wright pounced on the loose ball but the flag went up to deny him.

Danny Kelly was enjoying his battle against the rugged City centre backs and got the better of them in 29th minute getting to the bye line before pulling the ball back to Bailey on the edge of the box. The young striker struck his effort well and it rebounded the body of a defender who hurled himself in to block. Ives shouts for a penalty were quickly waved away by referee John Matthews.

As earlier having gone close Ives instantly found themselves under pressure at the other end as Minstermen debutant Nathan Dyer swung in a cross from the right that Ives struggled to clear the ball fell to Simon Heslop just inside the box he hammered in a low drive that flew through the crowd and thudded the base of keeper Wilson’s right hand upright.

City skipper Joe Tait had been struggling for pace against the lively Ives front line he was almost completely caught out in 32nd minute as Ben Seymour-Shove clipped a ball down the right that Ben Baker sprinted onto leaving Tait in his wake. But as the Ives man entered the box he snatched at his shot firing wildly wide. York manager Sam Collins made the instant decision of replacing his struggling skipper with Russell Penn who also took the armband.

Ives had a final chance to level things up before the break as Bailey won a free kick on the left edge of the box. Seymour-Shove swung the ball invitingly into the no man’s land between keeper Bartlett and his defenders forcing Wright into an excellent defensive header to prevent Owen Wallis getting on the end of it. The loose ball fell to Baker on the edge of the box but he blazed his first time effort well over the top.

Only one down at the break and still very much in the game Ives came back out very hopeful that they could find an equaliser but that hope was quickly extinguished by two quick goals early in the second period. A simple goal at the end of a flowing move in 50th minute saw the Minstermen double their advantage. The move saw at least a dozen passes strung together before Ferguson delivered a ball to the near post that was emphatically headed home by Burrow who had got across in front of his marker.

Another good passing move saw the lead increased to three and killed the game as a contest six minutes later. This time Alex Harris threaded a ball in to Burrow in a small amount of space on the edge of the box. Burrow once more showed his class as he turned on a sixpence and slammed a powerful drive into the roof of the net giving Wilson no chance.

With the contest now decided City substituted their two goal scorers and replaced them with the hugely experienced 36 year old Jon Parkin and the highly rated Alex Kempster. A few minutes later Ives manager Ricky Marheineke also played all of his remaining cards at one go as he made a triple substitution replacing Kelly, Baker and Seymour-Shove with Munashe Sundire, Ollie Snaith and Jordan Patrick.

Parkin should have increased the Minstermen’s lead in 70th minute as he timed his run to perfection to get on the end of a Ferguson cross from the left ahead of Jarvis Wilson but he somehow missed the target with his side footed effort from eight yards. The big striker did show his class two minutes later as he curled a ball off the outside of his foot to pick out Ferguson in space on the left. His in-swinging cross was headed over from ten yards by Kempster.

Ives won their first corner of the game in 78th minute Patrick delivered it deep where Mark Coulson kept it alive his ball back into the box was flicked on at the near post by Sam Cartwright with Sean Newton just doing enough to prevent Sundire forcing the ball home at the back post.

The visitor’s final opportunity to grab a consolation came two minutes from time as Bailey played a one two with Patrick before unleashing a low drive that skimmed off the turf and beat the diving Bartlett but flashed inches wide of his left hand post.

Referee Matthews called an end to Ives historic FA Cup run a few minutes later but the players can all be proud of their efforts both on the day and in their previous four games in the competition this season. We go out to a full time professional outfit who showed their extra experience and physical prowess on the day and deserved their win we wish them every success in the rest of the competition.

Result : York City 3 St Ives Town 0

Goals : none

Team : Sam Wilson, Hood, Coulson, Bailey, Cartwright, Jarvis Wilson, Wallis, Parker (capt), Kelly (Sundire 66), Baker (Patrick 66), Seymour-Shove (Snaith 66)

Unused subs : Griffiths, Dylan Wilson

Man of the match : Sam Cartwright

Attendance : 1243

Report by Nigel Howlett. Photos by Louise Thompson