So City suffer a moral-sapping sixth home defeat of the season and go down 3-1 to York on a drab and dreary afternoon at the Park in front of a respectable 3381. City lined up: Paul Jones; Moxey, Santos, Todd, Woodards; Challinor, Buckle, Cronin, Carlisle; Farrell, Phillips.
City got off to the best possible start when awarded a free kick five yards inside the York half five yards in from City's left touchline two minutes into the game. Carlisle delivered a beauty - high, swooping and dipping, and inviting a glance into the net. But no glance came and it avoided everyone including the goalie to drop nicely into the net away to the goalie's left to put us 1-0 up.
City continued to try and dominate, but for the most part the game was broken up by some determined midfield play from both sides. It wasn't overly pretty - a deteriorating pitch saw to that, but at least both sides were trying to win the game. Gradually City began to get gain the upper hand - ever so slightly - and with a bit of confidence coming back to the players on twenty five minutes a bursting run from Woodards down the right saw his cross met beautifully by the charging Carlisle who unfortunately saw his smart side foot volley smothered by the keeper.
But then the game was lost (despite us still being 1-0 up), and this was due to one thing and one thing only: an injury to Paul Buckle. He's had his critics this season, but today, until his untimely departure about a third of the way through the game, I thought he was having a fine performance. Alex chose to introduce Billy Jones from the bench, and this forced a mini reshuffle with Deano pushing up to left midfield and Challinor taking Buckle's position in the middle.
York weren't all of a sudden having it their own way though, as within minutes of the enforced substitution Cronin fired a half clearance back into the danger area for Farrell to swivel and lash home from twelve yards out all in one beautifully balletic movement only to see his effort ruled out for offside. Up the other end, Paul Jones was finally called upon to make his first save of the game with the final ten minutes of the half approaching, doing well to bat away a fierce point blank drive to his left.
But York sensed something was in the offing and took full advantage five minutes later when a hopeful ball was lofted into the box. With the defence hesitant it appeared to stick in the mud right at their striker's feet, and even then he mis-hit a scuff that completely wrongfooted Jones to roll into the net for a slightly fortuitous equaliser.
There was still time for City to regain the advantage, and they very nearly did when a gorgeously angled Carlisle free kick twenty yards out curled inches too high, and then right at the death a ball into the box found Moxey fetching the ball from behind him near the penalty spot and crashing a ferocious drive against the bar with the goalie nowhere. The resultant rebound was harmlessly smashed wide by Cronin from 30 yards and that was that.
Half time saw the now regular and hugely entertaining race where a home and away fan race around the perimeter of the pitch - natch the York fan won, but rather amusingly he won an Exeter City T-shirt, I'm sure he'll treasure it!
Anyway, the second half was soon upon us and we hardly had time to finish our teas before York were ahead. A weak clearance from a corner found a York attacker in bags of space a mere ten yards out, and he had no hesitation in smashing the ball back past Jones to his right to make it 2-1 to them.
City almost made things all square minutes later, when my Man of the Match Moxey scampered away down the left, and with a defender making a nuisance of himself let fly a thunderous drive from the corner of the penalty area that was well saved. Immediately after that Farrell found himself in space on the left and flighted in a sumptuous cross that for all the world looked as though it was heading for the net via the barging Carlisle's bonce until a defender intervened and nodded behind to safety. But City were still not finished and the onslaught continued, this time with a whumping Carlisle rocket blocked at source after another scramble in the York box.
But York withstood the barrage, and eventually came back into the half as once again the midfields slugged it out toe to toe. But they then dealt the killer blow with a quarter of an hour to go. A ball whipped in low from the left saw Paul Jones floundering at his near post as a York attacker nipped in smartish to steer the ball home from two yards out with some aplomb. Immediately Carlisle was withdrawn for Edwards as City swapped to 4-3-3 to try and get something out of the game, but it was to no avail and if anything their eagerness to push forward left them exposed on numerous occasions for York striker Clayton Donaldson only needing to don a red nose and flower that squirts water to complete the impression with every one on one he created and fluffed.
A few comedy moments from Donaldson apart, there was little to cheer for the last ten minutes, and four minutes of stoppage time later the ref bought the game to an end and thus, probably, our promotion hopes too.
However, despite a sapping defeat, I have to say that I thought that the performance, particularly in the first half, was a marked improvement on the previous games this year. Paul Jones, aside from his schoolboy error with York's third goal, was largely untroubled for much of the match. There wasn't much he could do about the first two goals and he also made a smart stop when we were ahead. One of his recent criticisms has been over his kicking, and apart from one skew I recall everything else was arrow straight. Also, despite the greasy conditions, his handling, particularly on crosses, was of a decent standard.
Of the back four Danny Woodards was the pick of the bunch. Billy Jones seems to be suffering a bit of a crisis of confidence at the moment, and it's easy to see why Moxey started in his stead. The centre backs both had their hands full with York's very mobile and gangly strikeforce, but all the same it was a bit of a mystery as to why Santos was announced as Man of the Match, much to the amusement and bewilderment of the home faithful, over the tannoy.
In midfield, Cronin and Buckle were, especially early on, back to their tigerish best, and broke up much of what York were trying to do through the middle. It was a crying shame Buckle had to limp off, as the midfield wasn't the same after that, and that was where the game was won and lost. With Challinor less effective in the middle, although needing to move there to accommodate the outstanding Moxey on the left, it was left to Cronin to try and mop up just in front of the defence, a task made infinitely more difficult being on his own. On the right I thought Carlisle had a pretty good game, and was always eager to get forward. On another day he could have had a hat trick, and he can take much heart from his performance today. Speaking of heart, surely the biggest was that of Deano. Bombing up and down the left, whether in defence or midfield, I thought he had a stormer. A stinging lash against the bar in the first half, and another against the keeper in the second, he was unlucky not to mark his return with at least one goal. Also, it gives Alex a real dilemma for next week: does he move Challinor inside where he's not as good to accommodate Moxey, or does he drop Billy Jones and put him in at left back. Only Alex can figure that one out, but it's the sort of dilemma every manager wants.
Up front there's little to say about Phillips and Farrell. Both looked hungry for the ball, and neither shied away from getting stuck in - Farrell in particular. I can't help feel that both would benefit from low hard crosses that are whipped in at knee height rather than head height through balls, but it was difficult to keep the ball down with the state the pitch was in today. Our groundstaff are, unfortunately, fighting a valiant but ultimately fruitless battle to save the pitch, but once the close season is upon us I'm sure they'll soon have it back to former glories.
So what happens now? Well, we're still in seventh, and we're only four points from second and three from that magical fifth spot with a game in hand and a better goal difference. That won't amount to diddly though unless we pull ourselves out of this slump that we find ourselves in. How do we do this? I don't know, that's for Alex and Steve to figure out, and although we're not the best team in this division, we're certainly not as bad as some are making out. We have good players who are going through a bad patch at the moment, so hopefully the FA Trophy next weekend will provide a bit of welcome relief as we seek to earn a semi final place at the expense of Salisbury City.
The league is not quite yet lost, but it's increasingly looking like the cup is our path to glory this season. Salisbury are indicating their coming en masse, so let's make sure we play our part in ensuring the boys do us proud. After today's improved performance over the previous home match, I'm really looking forward to this one now, and if we can get a result at Woking in midweek, then there's no reason why a bumper crowd can't enjoy a favourable outcome next weekend. See you there.
