Stoke City 3 York City 1: Minstermen fury as 'trip from hell' ruins big day

The Minstermen were held up by major traffic problems on both the snowbound M62 and the busy M6 after deciding to travel to Stoke City via coach on the morning of Saturday's game.

Manager Martin Foyle lives in Stoke and took only a few minutes to get to the Britannia Stadium but his players sat through a four-and-a-half hour ordeal.

When they finally arrived, at 2.58, they were given just half-an-hour to get stripped, changed and warmed up for the third- round encounter against the Premier League side.

Not surprisingly, York lost – although not before taking a shock lead courtesy of Neil Barrett.

For a brief moment, a sense of FA Cup romance was in the air – but York hearts were soon broken as Stoke hit back immediately with two goals.

Both times, the ball was flung into the York goal area by Stoke's Rory Delap, arguably the finest exponent of the long throw in the English game.

Defender Danny Parslow banged one into his own net and striker Ricardo Fuller nodded home the second.

Although the men from the Blue Square Premier refused to surrender and, ultimately, emerged with credit, there was no way back once Matthew Etherington added a third for Stoke from a stunning free-kick.

Goalkeeper Ingham, who has sampled the high life with both Sunderland and Northern Ireland, was unable to hide his frustrations after the game.

"Sitting on a bus for so long was hardly the best preparation for such a big game and, in the end, it's spoiled what should have been a really special occasion," he said.

"Why didn't we come down the night before and have a stop-over? I don't know. You would have to ask the board that.

"I certainly hope somebody asks them because the lads aren't too pleased by the way things worked out travelling on the day.

"For some of them, it may have been the biggest occasion of their career and, for whatever reason, they have not had the opportunity to enjoy it to the full."

Recalling the hectic 30 minutes before kick-off, Ingham said: "We got here with seconds to spare, flew into the dressing room, flew out, did the quickest warm-up in history and suddenly it was kick-off.

"There was no chance to savour the atmosphere of a Premiership club, no chance to have a look around and appreciate things.

"Just in, out, thank you Ma'm. Absolutely frantic!"

According to York director Sophie Hicks, the main reason why the players had not stayed in a Stoke hotel overnight was simple.

No-one had asked!

"We take the lead from the manager," said Hicks. "It certainly wasn't a financial issue. If the manager asks us for an overnight stay, we support him wherever we can.

"We have just been unfortunate with the weather," she insisted. "The police also requested that we travelled down the M6 rather than the M1 so they could escort the coach to the stadium.

"These were exceptional circumstances and I don't think it affected the team's performance," she added.

"The players were a credit to the club and our 4,000 fans were amazing.

"We all felt proud to be from York today."

Just getting to the third round of the FA Cup was a major milestone for the Minstermen whose main priority is winning promotion back to the Football League after a six-year absence.

Stoke manager Tony Pulis showed full respect for both the opposition and the competition by fielding a near full-strength side.

If any of his players thought it was going to be easy, they soon got a wake-up call when Barrett got his head to a free-kick and looped the ball inside Thomas Sorensen's far post.

If only York had held onto the lead for longer than they did, the game might have gone differently.

Stoke took just three minutes to score twice in the wake of Barrett's goal and tightened up at the back during the rest of the game.

Only three non-league clubs had made it to this season's third round and all three were beaten on Saturday.

The final whistle signalled the end of York's FA Cup adventure but the season is far from over for them.

Foyle's side visit Altrincham tomorrow night looking to maintain their push for promotion.

With a bit of luck, they might just check the weather forecast and get there on time.

York City: Ingham; Parslow (Purkiss 64), McGurk (Farrell 89), Graham, Meredith (Gall 64); Lawless, Barrett, Mackin, Carruthers; Rankine, Brodie. Unused substitutes: Mimms, Gash, Pacquette, Sangare.

Stoke City: Sorensen (Simonsen 45); Huth, Cort, Higginbotham, Collins; Lawrence, Whitehead, Delap, Etherington; Fuller (Sidibe 81), Beattie (Tuncay 73). Unused substitutes: Whelan, Pugh, Tonge, Wilkinson.

Referee: M Jones (Cheshire).

MATCH FOCUS

Hero: Neil Barrett

The York midfielder's goal stunned Premier League Stoke and sent the 4,000 travelling supporters into ecstasy. Unfortunately, for Barrett, his side were unable to hold onto the lead.

Villain: Danny Parslow

Scored a terrible own goal that put Stoke back on level terms immediately after falling behind. The defender was looking to clear Delap's long throw but sliced the ball into his own net.

Key moment

23rd minute: Stoke equalise just moments after falling behind with a little help from Parslow, Delap's long throw catching the York right-back off balance at the far post.

Ref watch

Mike Jones: Handled delayed kick-off with great professionalism and common sense.

Verdict

The gulf in quality was apparent but there was no shame in this defeat for non-league York against Premier League opposition.

Quote of the day

I've never felt so frustrated in my life as I was when we were stuck in traffic in that bus.

– York winger Chris Carruthers.

Next game

Altrincham v York City, tomorrow, Blue Square Premier, 7.45.

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