York City 1 Hartlepool 2: Woods’s grandad left smiling against Minstermen

York-born Woods, who moved to Chelsea along with Tom Taiwo in a £5m deal at of 16, netted on 81 minutes in front of his watching grandad Alan Woods, a member of the Minstermen’s 1964-65 promotion-winning team.

It was only the 25-year-old midfield player’s third goal of an injury-ravaged career and secured a 2-1 triumph for Hartlepool, who extended their 100 per start to the new season.

Woods’s 10-yard shot spun into a helpless Scott Flinders’s bottom left-hand corner off James Berrett.

York had dominated the first half with Dave Winfield hitting the bar and Vadaine Oliver and Keith Lowe both seeing headers cleared off the line.

Rookie striker Reece Thompson, signed from Frickley earlier this month, broke the deadlock on 57 minutes with his first goal in professional football, using his knee to bundle the ball over the line after the visitors failed to deal with Luke Summerfield’s low cross.

Another former Leeds man, Billy Paynter, levelled on 71 minutes, curling into Flinders’s top corner from the edge of the area to claim his third goal since a summer move.

York chief Russ Wilcox said: “We need to be a bit more clinical because the game should have been dead and buried but a wonderful piece of skill from Billy Paynter then changed everybody’s mindsets.”

York City: Flinders; Lowe, Winfield, Zubar; McCoy, Penn, Summerfield, Berrett, Tutonda; Oliver, Thompson (Hyde, 76). Unused substitutes: Ingham, Ilesanmi, Carson, Godfrey, Nolan, Straker.

Hartlepool United: Bartlett; Duckworth, Harrison, Worley (Bates, 8), Carroll; Magnay, Featherstone, Woods (Walker, 83); Bingham, Paynter, Fenwick (Oates, 62). Unused substitutes: Oyenuga, Jones, Smith, Denton.

Referee: S Stockbridge (Tyne and Wear).

Man of the match: Rakish Bingham.