York City 6 Braintree Town 2: Minstermen turn back the clock in rout of part-timers Braintree

It is 26 years since York scored six goals or more in a game, the last time being on October 5, 1985 when they crushed Darlington 7-0.

York’s fine run which has ssen them claim16 points out of a possible 21 has seen them jump to fourth.

They have had big wins over Wrexham, Braintree and Luton Town of the leading group and will look forward to strengthening their hold on a play-off place at Southport tomorrow.

Once again a super first half display provided the platform for victory, York being 4-0 up before part-timers Braintree, weakened by the absence of two first-choice defenders, had a sniff at the York goal.

Ashley Chambers began the onslaught in the 15th minute after being set up by Paddy McLaughlin and McLaughlin made it 2-0 from James Meredith’s pass in the 28th.

Jamal Fyfield backheeled the third in the 37th and McLaughlin added the next with a 25-yard shot four minutes before the break.

Sean Marks (43) and Aswad Thomas (62) narrowed the gap before Braintree had Dave Stevens sent off for a foul on Matty Blair, Jason Walker (70) scoring from the penalty spot. Adriano Moke (84) completed the rout and Braintree were reduced to nine men in stoppage time when Andy Yiadom was red-carded for a foul on Chris Smith.

York manager Gary Mills said: “Braintree put three men on Jason Walker, our leading scorer and this gave us a lot of space down the flanks which we exploited. We scored some quality goals.”

York City: Ingham; Challinor, Smith, Fyfield, Meredith; Kerr, Boucaud (Parslow, 67), McLaughlin; Blair, Walker (Reed, 84), Chambers (Moke, 78). Unused substitutes: McGurk, Potts.

Braintree Town: McDonald; O’Connor, Bailey-Dennis, Stevens, Thomas; Reason, Symons Davis (Yiadom, 78), Johnson; Wright (Quinton, 43), Marks (McCammon, 62).

Unused substitutes: Jones, Tajbakhsh.

Referee: S Stockbridge (Gateshead).

Man of the match: Paddy McLaughlin.