It’s become received wisdom that York have a set pieces problem. Defending set pieces was highlighted as an area for improvement last season by the management team, and was mentioned by Matt Uggla as a concern over summer. Yet the stats suggest that the issue has persisted in the 2026/27 season. The six goals City have conceded from set pieces in league games so far this season makes up over half of their total goals against, and is the joint-worst figure in League Two along with Rochdale.
The fact that the two sides promoted from the National League last season have had the most difficulty with set pieces is interesting: is it the case that teams in League Two are better drilled in their dead ball routines, or simply that their players carry a greater aerial threat? The data does show that League Two has the highest proportion of set piece goals from all EFL divisions over each of the last five seasons, and last season that figure reached a peak of 31.8%. Even so, York are having more problems with defending set pieces than most.
To try and understand what might be happening here, let’s take a look at the individual goals York have conceded from set pieces this season. Firstly, what exactly counts as a set piece goal? Fotmob’s data (which puts City’s tally at six conceded) includes goals scored following corners, free-kicks and throw-ins, and this is not restricted to goals directly assisted from the set piece but also includes goals that arrive shortly afterwards, for instance if a corner is initially cleared then crossed back in leading to a goal. The numbers do not include penalty goals, so Bristol Rovers’ second goal at the LNER on opening day doesn’t count towards the six, although strangely goals scored from penalty rebounds do count, such as Jake Evans’ goal in the 3-2 loss at Cheltenham.
For the purpose of this exercise, we’ll set aside that Evans goal, as a penalty rebound would seem to have little in common with other set piece goals. We’ll also disregard Evans’ second strike from that game, which came after a throw-in, as that allows us to focus on the four remaining goals that all came from corners.
Rotherham (A) - Ewan Otoo
City fell behind to Rotherham at the New York Stadium back in August when defender Ewan Otoo met Kian Spence’s corner delivery from the right. Otoo was part of a cluster of four Rotherham players who gathered near the edge of the area before the corner was sent in, occupying four York players. Otoo broke from the pack to run towards unoccupied space at the near post around six yards out.
