York City 0 Plymouth 0: Match report

A week after being unable to hold on to a lead with ten men, the Pilgrim were powerless to take advantage of similar misfortune suffered by their opponents

Despite enjoying a man advantage for three-quarters of the game at Bootham Crescent, after former Pilgrim Stephane Zuber was sent off for a butt on Peter Hartley, they were unable to break down a resolute York defence and had to settle for a point that at least keeps their Sky Bet League 2 play-off ambitions alive.

It would be callous to deny their hosts celebration of their share of the spoils as, not only did they defend well but also showed great spirit to take the game to Argyle, for who Luke McCormick was – and needed to be – in great form.

Argyle manager John Sheridan had welcomed back Curtis Nelson and Hartley – ¬¬two-thirds of his first-choice three-man defence – after injury, his captain and vice-captain having missed both the Pilgrims’ defeats over Christmas, at Newport and at home to Oxford United.

They took the place of Aaron Bentley, who was serving the first leg of his three-match suspension after being sent off against the Us the previous weekend, and Anthony O’Connor, who resumed his defensive central midfield partnership with Lee Cox. Ollie Norburn, whose performance against Oxford had been described by Sheridan as “magnificent”, must have felt unlucky to be the man to make way.

York stayed faithful to the 11 that had won 3-0 at Carlisle six days earlier, not surprising, seeing as the Brunton Park win had seen them achieve successive victories for the first time this season. It came on the back of their first home win, at the 11th attempt, against Accrington Stanley.

The starting 11, which differed only by one from that which had laid the foundations of their last-gasp 1-1 draw at Home Park in late November, included another former Pilgrim, Ivybridge-born Luke Summerfield.

Argyle’s recent occasional vulnerability at set-pieces¬¬ showed itself at York’s first corner. They failed to clear it properly and allowed Summerfield a shot at the far post that Kelvin Mellor blocked, with the home fans in the David Longhurst Stand claiming a hand had been involved.

Summerfield had been heavily and usefully involved in York’s early promptings, but the focus then suddenly switched to the other ex-Pilgrim on the field – although not for much longer, as it turned out.

As Bobby Reid’s floated free-kick from the left arced harmlessly into the arms of City goalkeeper Alex Cisask, Zubar and Hartley had a coming-together that resulted the former being shown a red card. The implication, not least of all from Reuben Reid as he persuaded a very reluctant Guadeloupian to leave the field, was that a head had been used.

The Pilgrims had immediately to deal with a clearly aggrieved Bootham Crescent as their opponents, roared on by angry support, tore into them with a passion fuelled by perceived injustice.

As at Home Park the weekend before, it was not straight away obvious that the two teams were uneven in number and Argyle initially dealt badly with the situation, giving the crowd more to shout about with some injudicious tackling. In turn, the spleen-venting support lifted the home players.

A strange half ended with Hartley being substituted, in favour of Norburn, during time added on largely for Zubar’s long walk to the shower-room. The decision not to wait the few additional seconds might have been influenced as much by the vice-skipper’s resurfaced groin problem as by the fact that he had already been show a yellow card and, being physically hampered, looked close to picking up another at least once subsequently.

The half ended with Luke McCormick making a double save from Summerfield, parrying his former Home Park team-mate’s low, wall-beating, free-kick and then accepting the ball graciously on the deck as Jake Hyde spooned the rebound gently into his midriff.