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Football 1sts finished off their incredible BUSA season with a hard fought win away at Newcastle 1sts to win promotion. A 2-1 win sealed the win in the promotion play-off on Wednesday. Ed Murrills poked home the winner with only 10 minutes to go, after Andy Rixon headed York ahead in the first half in his last ever BUSA game for York.
The story of the football 1sts promotion saga has been well publicised (See here) and after a week feeling aggrieved at having to play the promotion play-off at all, the York players arrived at Newcastle focused on the task at hand: win to gain promotion to BUSA Northern Conference 2B.
The club’s golden boot winner, Mark Gouland, was forced onto the bench due to illness meaning the in-form Murrills partnered O’Shea in attack. Elsewhere the reliable back three were all fit as McWilliams played sweeper behind the two marking centre-backs, Evans and Rixon. Winger Smith was feeling wobbly on the coach but after a nibble on some of the captain’s pre-match jelly he declared himself fit and, like the whole squad, raring to go.
The game started at a frantic pace as Newcastle tried to capitalise on the strong wind and York struggled to put any concerted pressure on the home team’s defence. Newcastle had the best of the early exchanges but probing free-kicks from deep by McWilliams looked to be causing Newcastle trouble. Midfield battles were setting the tone for a feisty affair, Wilson in particular enjoying a prolonged duel with his opponent in the centre of the park. As tackles flew in and the ball blustered around in the wind it was difficult for York to show their footballing skills but they were certainly up for a battle.
On a rare occasion York got the ball down onto the well-kept pitch a surge from O’Shea allowed him space to knock a ball through to Murrills who got past his marker but was forced wide onto his left foot and he fired wide. Set-pieces were difficult to deal with in the wind and towards the end of the half a Wilson corner was floated across from the right hand side. Runs from the other York players took the defenders away leaving acres for Andy Rixon as the ball came to him 14 yards out. Rixon didn’t have to leap, and if he did rise it was more like a limp lecturer’s than a fresher’s penis, but instead he tensed his neck muscles and thundered home his header into the top right hand corner. The team engulfed the gentle giant in their celebrations, knowing that with almost an hour left to play their promotion was far from in the bag.
York’s slender 1-0 lead held until the half-time whistle, despite the Newcastle midfield dragging the trio of Wilson, Gardner and Witherwick all over the pitch. Reorganisation during the break meant the York midfield coped better with the opposition, Witherwick going man-to-man with Newcastle’s danger man in the middle. The wind was now behind York and the visitors from the league below had the better of the opening 20 minutes.
The best move of the game occurred when Wilson’s reverse pass took 3 defenders out of the game and allowed Smith to get to the by-line. His cross was fired low across the 6 yard box and the home side were fortunate to clear the ball after it bounced around the box. Newcastle were also lucky when the ball dropped from the sky to O’Shea on the edge of the box and his volley, which could well have been going in, deflected off Murrills taking the ball wide.
York’s best chance of the half fell to Wilson after counter attack. Smith broke and gave the ball to O’Shea who slid in Wilson for a one-on-one. Wilson’s touch took him away from the defender chasing him but also forced him wide. He struck his shot well but the ‘keeper did well to stand up and punch the net bound ball out for a corner.
As the second half progressed Newcastle pushed forward more and to deal with their extra strikers York swapped to a 4-4-2 formation from their favoured 3-5-2 with Gardner dropping into centre-back and McWilliams and Evans turning into very defensively minded full-backs. Although ‘keeper Emmerson was not tested excessively by any real chances, Newcastle were definitely finding more openings and finally with less than 15 minutes left to go they got their equaliser.
McWilliams did very well to stop a cross from the right wing but was then caught in possession before he could clear and the winger swung a cross into the York penalty box. The Newcastle striker found a yard of space and hit a clean volley goalwards. The defence were caught out by the early cross and Emmerson was maybe napping as he failed to deal with the shot as it flew under his arms and through his legs. It was 1-1 with not long to go and York had the same crushing feeling that they had felt only a week ago away at UCLAN.
Despite this blow the 2B hopefuls gathered themselves quickly and looked to try and stop the game from going into extra-time by finding a winner. Almost immediately a Newcastle clearance found McWilliams who had pushed into the opposition’s half. As the home defence stepped out McWilliams’ cross found Murrills free. O’Shea was retreating from an offside position so some Newcastle players stopped but the referee deemed O’Shea not to be interfering with play and Murrills poked the bouncing ball past the onrushing goalkeeper.
There was considerable confusion as to whether the goal would stand but once it was confirmed York celebrated in a massive huddle around Murrills as they were now 2-1 up with 10 minutes to go, including stoppage time. These minutes were characterised by rising tempers with the Newcastle players and fans alike giving stick to the referee and York players. York kept their heads, however, and didn’t let the game descend into the all out brawl it could have been. Solid defending meant the score stayed the same and York won promotion to 2B whilst Newcastle will drop to 3B.
Line-up (3-5-2): Emmerson, Evans, McWilliams, Rixon, Smith, Cooper, Gardner, Witherwick (Ramsden 70), Wilson, O’Shea, Murrills
Goals: Rixon (30), Murrills (82)
Man of the match: Rixon
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