Barnsley lose fan battle to York City, but secure FA Cup progress against a club who would add to EFL - final word
GUY FAWKES season is upon us as the most famous son of York is remembered.
His gunpowder plot may have failed, as did York City’s quest to reach round two of the FA Cup at Oakwell. But the Minstermen exited with a bang at least.
Fittingly, the final action of this tie ended with the visitors on the attack. They went desperately close to securing extra time, which no-one could have possibly quibbled about.
Stuart Maynard went further. ‘On another day, we could have won it,’ York’s proud manager insisted afterwards and it was hard to disagree.
The main post-match emotion for his Barnsley counterpart Conor Hourihane was relief at getting past a side who made a mockery of the fact that 44 places separated these teams in the football pyramid.
For periods of the game - and certainly the first 25 minutes - it looked the other way around, for sure.
York’s performance - which had oodles of quality and not just the pluckiness and heart that you historically associate with cup ‘underdogs’ - added fuel to the argument that the gap between the National League and the lower leagues of the EFL is diminishing.
Days like Saturday also further exposed the unfairness of just one automatic promotion place being open from the fifth tier to the league. Quite frankly, it’s ridiculous.
This was a tie in the best cup traditions. ‘Loads of goals, excitement, opportunities, transitions and big saves,’ observed Hourihane.
Unfortunately, there were not loads of home supporters, who made up slightly over half of the crowd of 5,953.
Some 2,780 were in the away end and had there been no rail disruption out of York, then there’s a pretty good chance that the visitors would have outnumbered the hosts.
In terms of noise from the stands - just two were open - it was no contest.A wall of noise arrived from those from the walled city and it was only quietened in the final 15 minutes of the first half and momentarily when Barnsley struck twice in the second half.
The decisive one arrived in the first minute of stoppage time when Marc Roberts header won it from Luca Connell's corner, just minutes after York defender Mark Kitching had seemingly set things up for an extra half-hour.
Not that York laid down in those dying minutes after. A last-ditch block from Roberts to prevent Malachi Fagan-Walcott from drawing York level again was every bit as vital as his earlier intervention at the other deserted goal.
After a painful penalty shoot-out elimination in last year’s first round - and being kicked out of the competition for fielding an ineligible player in 2023-24 - Barnsley were hankering for any sort of positive cup story. More especially, given their recent form too. They got it, but only just.
Roberts was the match-winner, but two effortless strikes from Davis Keillor-Dunn, his first goals in almost a month, were similarly reassuring sights.
Starting as a ‘nine’, he looked more like his old self and went close to securing the match-ball in added-on time when his drive hit both posts.
"That will be something that will stay the same moving forward,” Hourihane forcefully remarked after the game when talk turned to DKD’s position in the final third.
Banks and Stones are two names etched into Oakwell folklore. That two players with the very same name combined to deadly effect, in the colours of York, for their opener was rather more disconcerting for those with Reds affiliations.
Josh Stones, who led the line superbly for the Minstermen and gave the Reds backline no respite whatsoever, had spurned an early chance with a heavy touch with Murphy Cooper racing out to block.
He was not going to pass up a second opportunity, powering in a header which Cooper couldn’t keep out following a succulent cross from Ollie Banks, son of ex-Reds favourite Ian.
Tactically, York’s fluid 3-4-2-1 formation was posing Barnsley considerable problems. A key switch which saw Nathanael Ogbeta, who had been ill earlier the week, replaced and Jono Bland switch to the left and further show his versatility helped get the hosts back into it.
Keillor-Dunn coolly finished after the ball had broken nicely for Jon Russell. The hosts ended the half on top and York keeper Harrison Male kept out Reyes Cleary’s curler.
On the restart, Cooper made a big one-on-one save to stop Banks, who raced clear after fine work from Stones.
York had oxygen from the North Stand, but Keillor-Dunn’s deft movement and neat finish looked to have won it from a clever pass from the impressive Neil Faruggia.
But Kitching had other ideas, firing into the roof of the net after Cooper had parried Alex Hunt’s free-kick and blocked Ollie Pearce’s follow-up as York again displayed their penchant for late goals. This time there was a twist.
Barnsley: Cooper; Bland, Roberts, Shepherd (Rooney 64), Ogbeta (Watson 32); Connell, Kelly; Farrugia (Barratt 90+6), Russell (Yoganathan 64), Cleary; Keillor-Dunn. Substitutes unused: Flavell, Vickers, McGoldrick, Gent, Alker.
York: Male; Fagan-Walcott, Howe, Kitching; Grey (Felix 38), Hunt, Boateng, Newby (Brookes 81); Banks (Batty 81), Pearce, Stones (Olley 72).
Substitutes unused: Sykes-Kenworthy, Fallowfield, Nathaniel-George, Fadera, Kettlewell.
Referee: M Barlow (Lancs).