York’s first appearance in the EFL Trophy in ten years started brightly but ultimately fizzled out, as Newcastle’s youngsters recovered from a poor start to take all three points, and the gulf in quality between City’s first choice players and their understudies was laid bare. The Minstermen failed to translate their first-half dominance into a comfortable lead, and were made to pay for some complacent play at the back as the visiting Magpies demonstrated greater ruthlessness in front of goal.
1,835 fans were attracted by the novelty of seeing City’s senior team up against a Premier League youth side, and as expected the line-up they turned out to see was much changed from the team that beat Swindon at the weekend. Ten new players came into the side, including young Ethan Stiver for his senior debut. The only real surprise was the inclusion of Ollie Pearce, but if there were any doubt that his presence was simply a way to stay within the competition’s rules about fielding a strong team, these were dispelled when he was substituted after less than a minute, with another debutant Ben Farrar taking his place.
While the personnel were hardly recognisable from the Swindon game, the early rhythm of the game followed a similar pattern with the home side dominating the ball and putting pressure on the Magpies’ back line. This pressure forced a series of corners, and it was from one such corner that York took the lead after 8 minutes. Dipo Akinyemi’s headed effort from Arthur Read’s delivery was well saved by Newcastle keeper Roman Dowell, but with the visitors unable to clear their lines, the ball then found its way to Joe Felix on the right. Felix, clearly taking inspiration from Alex Newby’s glorious strike from range on Saturday, beat Dowell with a well-struck effort from the edge of the area to give City an early lead.
Having gone ahead, City looked to have the measure of their young opponents and carved out a series of good chances as the first half progressed. Jovan Malcolm had two presentable openings in the first 20 minutes, but 16-year-old stopper Dowell was equal to both attempts, saving the first strike with his legs and closing down the shooting angle effectively for the second. Later in the half, the precise dead-ball deliveries of Read twice found the head of Akinyemi in front of goal, but again Dowell was able to thwart the City forward on both occasions.
York were made to pay for their profligacy when Newcastle were gifted an equaliser just before half-time. Ash Palmer, captaining the side on his first appearance of the season, miscued a pass to fellow centre-back Charlie McArthur, and the ball fell kindly to Newcastle’s Georgian striker Vakhtang Salia who fired past George Sykes-Kenworthy. The goal came from the visitors’ first attempted shot of the game, but meant that they were level at the break, with York having only converted one of their own thirteen attempts on goal.
If York had dominated the first half, though, the second followed a different pattern. It started in the worst possible way for the Minstermen: Jack Hunt’s clearance was sent straight back upfield by Newcastle centre-back Miodrag Pivaš and the ball fell to the unmarked Kyran Thompson, who brought the ball into the area before hitting a low finish beyond Sykes-Kenworthy and into the far corner to put the Magpies in front.
After falling behind, City were unable to find the same fluency they had in the first period, although Jack Hunt did go close when his left-footed strike from inside the area struck the post just after the hour mark. Scott Lindsey introduced three more young debutants not long after in Luka Ozisik, Oliver Belleh and Lewis Beadle, but it was the Magpies in the ascendancy and creating the better chances at this point. Thompson had an excellent chance to add his second goal of the night when he was found by a simple ball over the top from Pivaš, but this time the effort was blazed over the bar.
The visitors did get a third goal to secure their win on 83 minutes, courtesy of substitute Afner Cá. City defender McArthur, up against his former Newcastle U21 team-mates, lost out to Thompson in a tussle for a loose ball, then Cá outpaced Palmer to run onto Thompson’s pass and slot past Sykes-Kenworthy. The goal ended any hopes of a City comeback, and the only other chance of note was a stoppage time Malcolm effort from the edge of the area that flashed wide of the post.
What might we have learned, then, from this exercise? Few of the players turning out for York pressed their claims for inclusion in the first team, although Read showed his class on the ball at times, and neither Stiver nor Farrar looked out of place on their debuts. It was a night to forget for Palmer, whose error turned the tide of a game that City had looked set to win comfortably, and Akinyemi will be disappointed not to have made the most of a number of decent scoring opportunities. Ultimately, though, the game was little more than a curiosity, and most of this starting eleven will have another chance to impress against Rotherham in the same competition next week.
