York City 2 Halifax Town 2: Callum Howe's late goal denies early birds victory

With stoppage time, the Yorkshire derby lasted 111 minutes, and with 109 of them gone, it looked as it had effectively been decided in three.

Centre-back Howe had other ideas.

In the last minute of stoppage time, the York captain came up from the back to head in a cross from the right and inflict a draw that felt like a crushing defeat to the 864 in the away end.

It topped off a game worthy of the the 6,926 crowd as the teams shared a 2-2 draw.

When Ashley Nathaniel-George was sent off in added time, it looked as thought he title-chasing Minstermen were going to suffer defeat for the second time in a week. Many home fans upped and left when the red card came out of Scott Simpson's pocket.

Adam Senior and Tom Pugh had both scored inside three minutes, before York had found their feet.

First Senior headed in at a corner conceded after confusion between Howe and his goalkeeper Harrison Male, then Pugh carried the ball forward and hit a shot in off the post.

It shaped the first half, and not in the way Halifax would have liked, giving the title-chasing hosts little choice but to push forward as they inevitably sat back a touch.

With Burnley loanee Lewis Richardson giving York's 4-2-3-1 a lopsided shape by spending most of his time in the inside-right channel, right-sided centre-back Malachi Fagan-Walcott and right-back Ryan Fallowfield were able to get plenty of space and used it well.

It took an excellent Jack Evans tackle to frustrate Richardson after Fallowfield found him with a great ninth-minute pass.

But York were coming down the left when the got back into it, Senior fouling Ollie Pearce, who got up and smashed home the spot kick.

Sam Johnson had to come off his line to save after Tyrese Sinclair was picked out by a wonderful pass. Sinclair headed home from the resulting corner, but from near the back of the penalty area, he was unable to test the goalkeeper.

The game was delayed by 10 minutes when Fallowfield went down in the 10th minute. As soon as the defender hit the ground, concerned Halifax players screamed for the physios to come on.

Naturally it hurt the flow of the game but York continued to push, Johnson tipping over a Joe Felix's header at a stoppage-time corner. Fallowfield's replacement Jeff King went to ground from the corner, but his penalty appeals were waved away it was become a fractious derby.

A poor touch as Johnson took a Will Smith backpass almost let Pearce in, but he recovered in time.

Halfiax came out much more strongly after the break, Thomas having a shot Male was able to drop onto and Adam Adetoro winning his header at a 53rd minute corner, but not cleanly enough to trouble the goalkeeper.

Johnson had to make a brilliant double save to keep his side level just before the hour. An excellent stretching stop thwarted Sinclair and he was up quickly to stop Pearce putting in the rebound.

When Pearce had time to turn in the penalty area, he dragged his shot wide.

It was an even second half, substitute Max Wright whipping over a dangerous cross which no one could get to in the 71st minute, then himself not able to get to one from the left seconds later.

Senior dragged a shot wide for Halfax and Malachi Fagan-Walcott headed over a York corner from within a crowd of shirts

Nine added minutes – there had been 11 in the first half, mainly because of Fallowfield's injury – lifted the home crowd and Nathaniel-George cut inside and shot at the goalkeeper quickly after the board went up.

But his red card for a foul on High deflated some home fans angered plenty more who were unhappy with the way Simpson was officiating.

At that point, it looked like the game was up. Far from it.

York City: Male; Fallowfield (King 41), Fagan-Walcott, Howe, John; Felix, Hunt (Batty 72); Richardson (John-Lewis 76), Pearce, Sinclair (Nathaniel-George 62); Stones (Armstrong 62).

Unused substitutes: Watson, Aguiar.

Halifax Town: Johnson; Senior, Smith (Arthur 85), Adetoro, Galvin; Pugh (Wright 62), High, Evans, Thomas (Emmerson 70); Hoti (Cappello 62); Cooke (Bray 85).

Unused substitutes: Ford, Jenkins.

Referee: S Simpson.