Bristol Rovers 3 York City 2: Sloppy goals and red card annoy York chief

Substitute Ryan Bowman’s first-half dismissal just four minutes after coming off the bench for the injured Wes Fletcher made life difficult for the Minstermen.

But Worthington, who saw Bowman sent off for striking out at home captain Tom Parkes, was equally as annoyed by the manner in which his side had fallen 2-0 behind following mistakes by teenage defender Tom Allan and goalkeeper Michael Ingham.

He said: “You cannot start a game like we did – it’s as simple as that. We conceded two very soft goals and that gave us a mountain to climb.”

Allan’s poor clearance gave David Clarkson score in the third minute, the former Scotland international thumping a 15-yard attempt past Ingham.

On 33 minutes, Clarkson was then the willing recipient of a second gift, rifling into the roof of the net when Ingham failed to collect Michael Smith’s cross.

York reduced the deficit on 41 minutes after Bowman had announced his arrival on to the pitch with a positive run at the Rovers’ goal and a low shot that tLee Brown could only help into Ryan Jarvis’s path. The former Torquay forward went on to find an unguarded net from close range.

Just two minutes later, Bowman saw red after an off-the-ball clash with Parkes.

Despite that, York levelled on 63 minutes when Mark McChrystal was penalised for a shove on Chris Smith and Jarvis claimed his second of the game from the resulting spot-kick.

Worthington’s men were only on level terms for four minutes with John-Joe O’Toole tapping home the winner from two yards out.

Bristol Rovers: Mildenhall, M Smith, Parkes, McChrystal, Brown, Lockyer, Norburn (Gill, 81), O’Toole, Santos, Clarkson (Harding, 87), Brunt. Unused substitutes: Gough, Kenneth, Harrison, Hunter, Southway.

York City: Ingham, Oyebanjo, C Smith, Allan, Davies, Parslow (McGurk, 83), Clay, Platt, Jarvis, Fletcher (Bowman, 39), Chambers (Coulson, 70). Unused substitutes: Kettings, Fyfield, Montrose, Cresswell.

Referee: G Sutton (Lincs)

Man of the match: Ryan Jarvis.