York City's equaliser could be their sliding doors moment but no reason for it to break Halifax Town – the final word

Beaten 3-1 at leaders Barnet on Tuesday, they were about to lose again, at home to Halifax Town, leaving them 10 points behind a side who had won 4-0 at Rochdale.

Two games in hand are only any use if you have the confidence and momentum to use them.

Rocked by two goals in the the first three minutes, they had Ryan Fallowfield carried off after being knocked out, and had lost their big-money January signing Josh Stones, leading the line well, to injury.

When Ashley Nathaniel-George was sent off five minutes into the minimum of nine due to be added to the second half for diving into a tackle on Scott High, plenty in the 6,926 crowd left angrily.

Before most got to their cars, Callum Howe headed in a cross from Fallowfield's replacement, ex-Shayman Jeff King, to draw 2-2.

It could – just could – be a sliding doors moment for the Minstermen.

"We were disappointed with our performance on Tuesday and we started poorly so it would have been easy to go hiding," their manager Adam Hinshelwood commented.

For a young Halifax team who lost the reverse fixture 2-1 to stoppage-time goals from Malachi Fagan-Walcott and Ollie Pearce, it could have the opposite effect – especially as Nathaniel-George's tackle left the influential High with what his manager called "a bad injury". It need not.

Up to sixth after Altrincham lost at home, Chris Millington saw plenty of positives, if only one point.

"It was probably a fairly even affair, it's just the context that makes it sting a bit, the fact we have this awful habit of conceding late goals to York City," he reflected.

That Halifax started so well helped York build early momentum.

There were barely 90 seconds gone when having made a hash of Howe's backpass to concede a corner, Harrison Male was left with no chance by Adam Senior's header.

There was a brief moment of confusion as referee Scott Simpson rushed over to the celebrating players but he was only trying to keep them away from the home fans. Maybe he heard the renditions of I Predict a Riot from the band outside the main stand before kick-off.

Before York got their heads in order, Tom Pugh strode forward and smashed a second in off a post.

Having plumped up such a comfortable cushion inside three minutes, Halifax hesisted to go for the throat. York had no choice.

"We didn't deal with it well," admitted Millington. "We dropped off, our wingers started to get deeper when they should have been higher up the pitch."

York’s on-loan Burnley winger Lewis Richardson playing inside allowed Fallowfield plenty of space to attack from right-back. A lovely ball picked out Richardson, only for Jack Evans to make an excellent tackle.

It felt a matter of time and when Senior – one of three former York loanees in Halifax’s XI – clumsily tackled Pearce after a quarter of an hour, the latter scored the penalty.

But the second did not come, Sam Johnson off his line quickly to deny Tyrese Sinclair. Although the effect on his team was not the most important thing as Fallowfield cut his head on Luca Thomas' knee as he fell in a 30th-minute tackle, 10 minutes of careful treatment did not help.

It took until the time added on for it for York to work Johnson again, tipping over Joe Felix's header. Both sets of players would have been relieved to learn Fallowfield was conscious at half-time.

But Millington fixed his side's mindset in the break, leading to a much more even second half.

Johnson tipped over Thomas' shot and did brilliantly in the 58th minute to deny Sinclair, then get up to stop Pearce scoring the rebound. Fagan-Walcott headed over at an 87th-minute corner.

But a cleaner Adam Adero header or a better strike than the one Senior dragged wide could have added to the visitors' lead.

It looked like matters had been settled when Simpson further infuriated home fans unhappy he had not even booked Evans for jumping into a tackle on Cameron John by sending off Nathaniel-George.

The substitute got a touch on the ball but the force left High limping the final minutes as a passenger with all 10 substitutes on.

But in the final analysis, York found something – you know, like champions do? Who knows if that will be their fate, but the chances were much better at 5.09pm on Saturday than 5.08.

York City: Male; Fallowfield (King 41), Fagan-Walcott, Howe, John; Felix, Hunt (Batty 72); Richardson (John-Lewis 76), Pearce, Sinclair (Nathaniel-George 62); Stones (Armstrong 62). Unused substitutes: Watson, Aguiar.

Halifax Town: Johnson; Senior, Smith (Arthur 85), Adetoro, Galvin; Pugh (Wright 62), High, Evans, Thomas (Emmerson 70); Hoti (Cappello 62); Cooke (Bray 85). Unused substitutes: Ford, Jenkins.

Referee: S Simpson (Stoke).