City’s wait for a first away win of the season continues, with the points shared in an entertaining clash at Gresty Road. After recovering from a wobbly opening in which Crewe took the lead and could have scored more, the Minstermen gained control of the match and may come away feeling they could have taken all three points. Alex Newby continued his fine form in front of goal, and City could have added to his equaliser with greater composure in front of goal. Both sets of fans will have left the ground believing their side had shown enough to be competing at the top end of the table after a high-quality encounter.
City's supporters travelled in numbers again, with an incredible 1,249 making the trip to Cheshire, but they had to endure an uncomfortable start to the game. Having come flying out of the traps at Cheltenham on Tuesday, York experienced the reverse at the start of this game, with Crewe on the front foot and the City defence struggling to stem the flow of attacks. The home side were helped by some loose play by York, with their first clear chance coming from Alex Hunt losing possession near the halfway line after five minutes. The ball broke to centre-back Josh Stephenson, and his long ball upfield found Josh Lankester who outpaced Ryan Fallowfield, but when Lankester’s cross found forward Josh March 12 yards out he fired over.
That was a warning shot, and the Crewe attacks continued until their efforts were rewarded with the opening goal in the 9th minute. Calum Agius swung in a corner from the right, and Luke Offord peeled away from his marker to meet the delivery at the near post, heading beyond Alfie McNally and into the far corner. It was the second time City had conceded the opener from a near-post corner this season, with Rotherham's goal two weeks ago coming from the same route, but on this occasion the delivery and movement were of a high enough quality to absolve the City defence of too much blame.
Crewe's attacking momentum continued after the goal, and they had a chance for a second just a minute later. A cross from Reece Hutchinson found March inside the area, but a sliding block by Morgan Williams averted the danger. Hutchinson then went on to spurn two chances himself, first firing straight at McNally from the edge of the area, then robbing Joe Felix of possession, exchanging passes with Jack Lankester and hitting a low shot that was again saved fairly comfortably by McNally. With 25 minutes played, City could perhaps consider themselves fortunate to be trailing by just a single goal. While Cheltenham had handed them their first defeat, that was in a tight encounter that could easily have gone either way: the early stages of this game suggested it could be City's first experience of being outplayed since gaining promotion to League Two.
However, the Minstermen began to find their composure on the ball, and gradually the tide of the game started to turn in their favour. Twice, Ollie Banks played Ollie Pearce in, first with a cross from deep that came to Pearce at an awkward height and bounced harmlessly off his thigh, then with a simple pass that Pearce controlled before hitting a left-footed effort over the bar. Neither chance was straightforward, but having got off the mark for the season in midweek, Pearce may have been disappointed that both came to nothing.
Pearce was involved again when York found an equaliser on 40 minutes. Crewe midfielder Joe White’s loose pass infield was intercepted by Harry Boyes, who played the ball to Pearce on the edge of the area. Pearce's clever flick bamboozled defender Stephenson, who stumbled to the ground leaving Alex Newby with a clear route to goal. Newby took a touch before calmly slotting into the corner past goalkeeper Tom Booth for his fourth goal of the season. City went close again before half-time when Morgan Williams headed narrowly over from a corner, but the 1-1 score at the break was a fair reflection of a ‘half of two halves’ that saw initial Crewe dominance before York gained a foothold in the game.
The start of the second half saw City reaffirm their superiority, with some excellent link-up play leading to three presentable chances in quick succession. Jeff King, introduced as a half-time substitute in place of Joe Felix, swung in a cross from the right that evaded the Crewe back line and found Newby at the far post, but this time Newby's attempt was too close to Booth. Some fine interplay between Boyes, Hunt and Pearce then put Boyes through on goal only for him to lose his footing at the critical moment. Shortly after, a neat one-two between Hunt and Pearce resulted in an opening for Hunt, but his low shot was well saved by Booth. City's game was in full flow at this point, and a second goal looked imminent.
A quadruple substitution by Crewe manager Lee Bell just after the hour mark changed the momentum of the game again, however, with the experienced Mickey Demetriou coming on to shore up the back line and new attacking threats being introduced in Joel Tabiner, Jordan Gibson and Adrien Thibaut. A slick passing move from the home side saw Tabiner find the advancing Lewis Billington on the left, and he cut inside both King and Banks before unleashing a powerful strike that looked destined for the corner of the net. Williams came to City's rescue, though, with a crucial headed block to divert the effort wide.
Chances were hard to come by as the final twenty minutes of the tie played out, with City head coach Scott Lindsey also ringing the changes. Craig Hewitt and Zech Medley were brought on, with the latter taking up an unorthodox attacking role, joining Jovan Malcolm and Arthur Read who had already entered the fray. It was Medley who had the final chance of the game in the third minute of stoppage time: a Boyes cross from the left was flicked on by Malcolm and found its way to Medley, but his header which looked to be creeping inside the post was clawed away by Booth to ensure that the game finished level.
City find themselves with a respectable tally of eight points from their first five games, leaving them just a point away from the automatic promotion places, but there is a sense that it could have been more. This game followed a similar pattern to the draw at Rotherham, not only because a 40th minute equaliser by Newby cancelled out a goal from a corner, but also because York were then unable to convert a number of chances to go ahead. They can take plenty of positives from this display, though: the mentality shown to recover from Crewe's early onslaught was impressive, and some of the attacking play either side of half-time was easy on the eye. For all that League Two has a reputation for agricultural football, here was a clash between two sides who showed their ability to instead carve out chances with intricate passing moves. The challenge for both if they want to push for promotion will be to find a greater killer instinct in front of goal.
