Luton Town 0 York City 1: Wembley may be last stop before Minstermen's return

YORK CITY are within 90 minutes of a return to the Football League after a six-year absence following their nerve-wracking victory over promotion favourites Luton Town in the Blue Square Premier play-off semi-final second leg at a tension-packed Kenilworth Road.

York, who were relegated from the old Division Three in May 2004, will meet Oxford United in the final at Wembley on Sunday, May 16 (5pm), after they were 2-0 winners over Rushden & Diamonds .

It was a pity that York's great achievement should be partly spoiled by an invasion of Luton fans at the end of a game as they rushed on to the field to try to confront York supporters.

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While Luton could count themselves unlucky to lose the first leg at Bootham Crescent there was no doubting the merits of York's victory yesterday with goalkeeper Michael Ingham having a largely untroubled afternoon apart from one fine save in the first half.

York always looked more composed than Luton thanks to their magnificent defence in which David McGurk was outstanding seeing to it that Luton, who finished 10 points ahead of York in the regular season, had few chances to score.

It was McGurk's well-timed tackle on Tom Craddock in the 78th minute which proved a defining moment after the Luton striker had burst through.

Early on, it took a superb save by Ingham from Craddock to prevent the home side from going ahead. Richard Brodie and Michael Rankine caused problems for the home defence but the all-important goal came a minute after the interval when Chris Carruthers was brought down by Blackett five yards outside the penalty area.

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Rankine hammered the free kick through the defensive wall and the diving Mark Tyler could only parry the ball for Carruthers to follow up and side-foot home.

Referee Rob Lewis had to go off after 66 minutes with a pulled muscle and was replaced by fourth official Chris Berry.

Then came McGurk's vital tackle to prevent Craddock from getting in a shot and Luton's problems increased three minutes from time when Adam Newton kicked the ball away angrily and then made an observation to the referee who produced a yellow, then a red card.

Delighted York chairman Jason McGill said: "This is a most significant result in my time as chairman of York City. It was a massive result because it can show us the way forward with increased revenue from our trip to Wembley. It is a huge lift for the city of York."

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York manager Martin Foyle added: "It's a great day for the club. We were very organised defensively and a lot of our players put their heads on the line. We came here with a game plan and it worked.

"Luton were the better side football wise in the first leg, but I felt we were the better side at Luton.

"We are now really looking forward to our trip to Wembley."

Luton Town: Tyler; Newton, Blackett, Pilkington, Murray; Gnakpa, Keane, Heslop (Hall 69), Howells (Hatch 54); Craddock, Gallen (Barnes-Homer 59). Unused Substitutes: Kovaks, Gore.

York City: Ingham; Purkiss, McGurk, Graham, Meredith; Lawless (Sangare 85), Barrett (Parslow 89), Mackin, Carruthers; Brodie, Rankine (Gash 80). Unused Substitutes: Mimms, Pitt.

Referee: R Lewis (Shrewsbury), replaced by C Berry after 66 minutes due to injury.