York City mark long-awaited opening of LNER Stadium in silence

They may have had visions of a high-profile summer friendly, maybe against the previous year’s Champions League semi-finalists Leeds United. In 2002, neither AFC Fylde nor Conference North existed. LNER, sponsors of York’s new home, was a train company closed with the nationalisation of the railways in 1948.

In 2002, York had been a Football League side for 73 years; today they are a full-time club marooned in a part-time division they desperately want out of. Many of their rivals do not want to play in it either until somebody pays the bills to allow them to. The three points Fylde won may be worth as much as magic beans come the imminent season’s end.

Nine years ago when the FA Trophy winners, celebrating promotion back into the 92, got planning permission to build a ground, the circumstances of its first game would have been the stuff of dystopian science fiction. “Furloughing” sounded like something to do to your allotment, not your workforce.

A global pandemic meant just about every York fan watching was doing so over the internet at home. They could not even have their mates around.

Fylde manager Jim Bentley’s Scouse accent was muffled but not silenced by a mask as he yelled “How many of them are you going to let go, ref?” after a Harry Bunn foul on Sam Osborne.

Neither side had kicked a ball for six weeks.

It all made the first game at the Community Stadium more a milestone than an event. It was fitting this less-than-satisfactory occasion had a less-than-satisfactory result, Fylde winning 3-1.

York might have imagined the scorer of the first goal at their smart 8,500-seater stadium could have been a product of the famous Wallsend Boys Club but probably not a visiting centre-back without a goal all season. A debut for loan striker Gabby McGill, son of chairman Jason who divides opinion but has fought tenaciously for 18 years to make this move happen, teed up an obvious fairytale but instead Alex Whitmore wrote his name into history and McGill was substituted after an hour.

Ultimately, the two Neil Haughton free-kicks that made the difference were very worthy of the occasion, even if the first went down as a Pete Jameson own goal.

The absence of fans was painful, even on terracing with blue, red, white and yellow seats dotted randomly to hide its emptiness. The eeriness was palpable when the PA system cut out with only the goalkeepers warming up. The outfielders emerged to silence. The music only kicked back in as they headed in for a team talk.

The surface looked immaculate and took a dousing to quicken it. It quickly picked up a scar on the wing, but held up well.

York ran out to a couple of claps, one from the director’s box, another the media seats alongside. Sean Newton clutched a tablet so a virtual mascot could say, “I was sort of there”.

The game almost kicked off in secret, the scratchy tannoy only halfway through reading out the teams masking the first whistle but the players were very conscious of the history. Almost everyone seemed desperate to score in a frantic start. Captain Newton pulled rank at a sixth-minute free-kick he curled over.

A Fylde corner taken when first-half time was up went all the way through to Whitmore, who tapped in at the far post.

When Newton was booked, Haughton curled a beautiful free-kick onto the bar but it bounced onto goalkeeper Jameson and in.

The captain made amends when McGill’s recently-introduced replacement Jack Redshaw was fouled, smashing home the penalty after 64 minutes. The fans roared their encouragement. Presumably.

In the last 10 minutes, Haughton hit an even better, cleaner free-kick in.

“I was really disappointed with the first-half performance, I didn’t think we were anywhere near brave enough on the ball,” said York manager Steve Watson. “We tended to be stretching for the ball and everyone seemed to be in a panic. We’ve got some good players and they don’t need to play like that.

“When lads get on a brand new pitch in a new stadium you don’t know what goes through their heads, so maybe the occasion had a bearing.

“Neither keeper had a great deal to do from open play. Two bits of absolute quality won it.”

Last night was not about dreams, just getting a day York had waited for since 2002 out of the way. The glamour must wait.

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