Silkmen’s last
BUILDBASE FA TROPHY CUP FINAL MACCLESFIELD .............. 2 YORK CITY ...................... 3
MACCLESFIELD TOWN suffered FA Trophy final heartbreak as Aidan Connolly struck in the 86th minute for York City.
The Silkman had come from behind twice in the first half and dominated much of the second but, just as the game looked to be heading to extra time, City landed a sucker punch which John Askey’s men didn’t have time to recover from.
Macclesfield were lucky not to concede the opening goal at Wembley Stadium after just three minutes.
Amari Morgan-Smith raced onto a header from Vadaine Oliver and went down under pressure from Andy Halls but referee Paul Tierney waved away the penalty claims.
The rest bite only lasted five minutes however as Danny Holmes crossed from the left wing and Jon Parkin’s head helped it on its way into the bottom corner.
Kingsley James drilled a shot straight at Kyle Letheren from a drilled corner two minutes later.
Macclesfield levelled soon afterwards from another set-piece as a freekick was cleared as far as Rhys Browne, who took a touch before firing a low shot through a sea of bodies and into the back of the net.
Top goal scorer Chris Holroyd then looked dangerous as his penalty claims were also turned down before his acrobatic effort found the roof of the net.
Nine minutes after coming back on terms, Macclesfield fell behind once again to the clinical Minstermen.
Sean Newton was sent away down the left side and his pin point ball across the box found Oli- ver, who squeezed the ball in at the back post.
Just as with York’s first, their second goal cued a period of pressure from the losing side as they continued to create chances despite the deficit.
Danny Whitaker cut inside from the left wing and sent a long range shot towards the top corner but Letheren tipped over the bar
He was then denied for a second time in quick succession by the impressive York shot stopper, this time from inside the box after Holroyd had laid the ball back to him.
Browne looked set to score his and Macclesfield’s second as the bombardment continued but, after dancing his way past three York defenders, he couldn’t keep his balance and fired over from the middle of the box.
They did find an equaliser before the break however through Ollie Norburn, the man who scored both goals in the aggregate win over Tranmere Rovers in the semi-final.
He picked up the ball 25 yards out inside first half additional time and sent an unstoppable shot into the roof of the net in front of the travelling Macclesfield support.
York nearly re-took the lead in bizarre fashion early in the second half with George Pilkington’s attempted clearance cannoning off the head of Oliver and just wide of the post with Scott Flinders beaten.
Browne’s cross cum shot was pushed to safety after Whitaker had been denied for a third time.
The latter had the ‘keeper beaten 10 minutes after the restart but his left-footed volley trickled agonisingly wide of the bottom corner.
With York making one change at the break, Askey opted to make his first substitution of the afternoon with John McCombe replacing Neill Bryne.
Bryne very nearly watched his side take the lead just seconds after coming on but James’ powerful volley was brilliantly cleared off the line by the head of Hamza Bencherif.
Gary Mills threw eventual matchwinner Connolly onto the field in place of Asa Hall and the fresh legs nearly had the desired effect three minutes later.
Adriano Moke sent Newton away down the left wing, with the winger sending a dangerous ball across the face of the goal but nobody was there to provide the finishing touch.
Shaun Rooney was then brought on for Holmes as the Minstermen looked to build on their most positive spell of the second period.