York City 3 Yeovil 0: Promotion pandemonium on ice as Minstermen are forced into decider at Rochdale

With the Minstermen already 2-0 up and cruising to victory over Yeovil courtesy of goals from lethal marksmen Ollie Pearce and Josh Stones, by far the loudest cheer of the afternoon from an 8,219-strong crowd greeted news from Essex that 36-year-old veteran John Akinde had equalised against Rochdale in the 91st minute for his 16th club of a nomadic career.

That scoreline of 1-1 was enough to end York’s 10-year absence from the EFL and, just seconds later, as if to celebrate that prospect in fitting fashion, sub Joe Grey slammed in a stoppage-time third for Stuart Maynard’s men.

Pandemonium was then followed by a final whistle that saw home players congregate on the pitch, waiting for confirmation of the final outcome.

In the stands, meanwhile, social media feeds were being repeatedly refreshed and fans were frantically searching for that rarest of individuals – somebody with a DAZN subscription and a reliable WiFi signal!

Others made the mistake of going too early, including the club’s co-owner – a jubilant Julie-Ann Uggla - who rushed down to the press box to interrupt BBC Radio York’s coverage by flinging her arms around co-commentator and former Minsterman and Huddersfield Town cult hero Iain Dunn.

As, one-by-one, home players’ hands gripped their heads in disbelief, though, it became clear that this most hotly-contested of championship races was going to the wire or, more specifically, Spotland where, thanks to Mani Dieseruvwe’s 99th-minute winner at Braintree, Rochdale will now host York knowing a win will see them clinch the championship.

Anything less and York back in the Football League.

It’s a deliciously tantalising scenario and, as much as the manner in which Saturday’s drama played out was painful for the York faithful, nobody can argue it’s not a fitting finale for two teams who have gone toe-to-toe all term and both accumulated more than 100 points.

More fitting than Akinde becoming the unlikely central character anyway!

York boss Maynard seemed to agree when, on the prospect of Saturday’s decider, he declared: “It’s what we want to be involved in. It’s going to be an unbelievable opportunity to go to Rochdale and win the trophy.

"When we lost at Boreham Wood last month, a lot of the lads were low as a bit of a gap had opened, but we said we’ve got to keep believing that we can get to that last game with promotion being in our own hands and it is.”

The ex-Notts County boss did, however, confess a tinge of disappointment at the manner in which Rochdale had ensured they remained in control of their own destiny, too.

“I’d have rather Rochdale won 3-0 because, this way, it gave us that little glimpse of what it would have been like to do it on the day in front of our own fans,” he admitted. “So, we’re a bit down, which is only natural, because we’re humans, but we’ll dust ourselves down and nothing changes.

“It will be a normal prep week and we’ll go there with our identity and how we want to play. We’ve already played them twice this season and they were two very good games, so we are looking forward to it.”

York won both of those fixtures – 4-1 in the league and 2-1 away in the FA Cup.

In fact, the Minstermen are unbeaten in the last 11 contests against their Lancashire foes and have not lost at Spotland since a 5-4 thriller in 2002.

Nobody is expecting a repeat of that scoreline, but the Minstermen are certainly not short of a goal threat, having netted 113 times now in their pursuit of a first automatic promotion since 1984!

Back then, John Byrne and Keith Walwyn were terrorising defences on the way to the old fourth division title.

Now, 42 years on, it’s Pearce and Stones who are the scourge of opposition backlines, having plundered 52 goals between them in all competitions – 35 for the former and 17 for the latter.

Pearce opened the scoring against Yeovil, heading in from a devilishly inviting cross from the cultured right boot of Ollie Banks.

Just before the break, Stones doubled the advantage with a composed 15-yard finish into the bottom corner from Jeff King’s lay-off.

Yeovil only mustered one shot all afternoon – an off-target Ryan Jones effort presented to him by Zack Johnson’s sloppy pass out from the back – and only a brilliant double save by Jed Ward to deny Banks and Stones kept the score down to 2-0 before Grey curled into his bottom-right corner from the edge of the box.

Absolutely nobody should discount the possibility of more last-gasp drama next Saturday.