MINSTERMEN HOLD ON IN A CRUNCH SIX-POINTER

INTERIM manager Michael Morton joked his side nearly gave him a ‘heart attack’, after his York City side withstood late pressure to hold on to three crucial points in this vital relegation six-pointer.

Goals early in both halves from Manny Duku and Ryan Fallowfield put the Minstermen in control before Dan Gallagher halved the deficit four minutes from time to set up a thrilling finale.

Dorking boss Marc White was sent off by referee Aaron Jackson on 18 minutes for something he said to the fourth official.

Opposite number Morton was present for the match – although perhaps he wishes he wasn’t.

“I said to the lads that they’re going to give me a heart attack here,” he said. “Why can’t we just put these games to bed and just enjoy the last 20 minutes?

“We could have been two or three up in the first ten minutes. But god, we made it hard there didn’t we?

“But it’s a massive win for us and we’ve now got to make sure that we rest up going into next week now.

“We wanted that gap to be bigger from the teams that are below us and that’s why it was a cup final.”

York started brightly with Dorking keeper Dan Lincoln forced to keep out two efforts from Mark Ellis before the Minstermen eventually found a way through.

A fantastic half-volley from Mitch Hancox on the edge rattled the post before being deflected into Duku’s path, who calmly poked home to net his fifth goal of the season.

Duku, though, suffered a head-in-hands moment not long later as he beat the offside trap to race through on goal, but somehow the striker chipped his chance wide of the target to the bemusement of the York supporters.

Olly Dyson nearly doubled the advantage on the brink of half-time, but curled an effort from the edge of the box narrowly wide of the target. Dorking boss White responded by making a double substution at half-time but York still dominated.

Dan Pybus scuffed an effort wide of the target when one-onone with Lincoln, but all was forgiven minutes later, as City added their second.

Some sloppy defending allowed Dyson to float a cross into Fallowfield at the back post, who spun his marker before rifling an unstoppable effort into the roof of the net.

Dorking, to their credit, did eventually mount a comeback of their own and on 86 minutes they halved the deficit when a corner was flicked on by Prior, allowing Gallagher to bundle the ball over the line from close-range.

York stayed strong, however, to withstand the Dorking pressure to move eight points clear of safety, while Dorking are now just one point above Gateshead in 21st.

Ryan Fallowfield (York) 4,409