The Harriers will be kicking themselves tonight after being very unfortunate to have ended this game empty handed.  After coming from behind with only ten men and then dominating the second half they fell behind to a late breakaway goal from Lee Nogan.

The game started with a surprise.  Bo Henriksen sat on the bench to make way for Andy Bishop and Dean Bennett took the place of Danny Williams who was serving a one match ban.

Another surprise was the return of Andy Ducros from his loan spell at Nuneaton.  He was also on the bench.

The first chance of the game fell to the Harriers when Drewe Broughton headed wide while under pressure from a City defender.

It was the turn of York next with a better chance just a minute later.  The Harriers defence had been caught napping already when Nogan's shot was pushed away by Stuart Brock but only to Duffield who came rushing in.  It took some brave defending from Craig Hinton to hook the ball away from him and an even braver Duffield who was caught in the face by Hintons challenge.

After eight minutes York were forced into an early substitution.  Chris Brass was involved in a collision with Broughton and after a long period of treatment eventually had to leave the field of play for good.  Broughton was spoken to by the ref for his part in the incident.

The real action was very scrappy from both sides and made you wonder if any of them would manage to get a pass on target let alone a shot.  Harriers were probably the more guilty of this than York.

On 17 minutes Broughton picked up the first yellow card of the game after a foul on Parkin.  He also had another stern talking to by the ref.

York had a valid appeal for a penalty turned down two minutes later when Nogan was bought down in the area by a challenge from behind from Lee Ayres.  However the referee waved away the York appeals.

The first City goal came soon after.  'JJ' had been sent from the pitch to change his pedal pushers after the ref had objected to them.

The ball was centered by the impressive Michael Reddy for Duffield and with the Harriers defence out numbered he laid the ball out to the totally unmarked Brackstone who made no mistake from the edge of the area.

Bishop wasted a great opportunity to level the scores on 35 minutes.  Dean Bennett sent in a low cross that was only half cleared by Parkin.  The loose ball fell to Bishop and the on loan striker sent the ball careening over the bar from just six yards out with only the keeper to beat.

A few minutes later came the incident that was to change the game.

After already having received numerous lectures from referee Taylor the red mist descended over Drewes head yet again.  The outcome of another clash with Parkin was decided with an elbow from Broughton and the ref didn't hesitate in taking his red card out and show the crowd that he'd had enough.

After Broughton had gone the ten men remaining started to get their act together and put some decent passes together and it was only minutes later that the equaliser came.

This time it was a through ball from Ayres that caught the York defence napping.  Leaving the ball for the City keeper Fettis to clear was a mistake because he didn't see Andy Bishop coming on to the loose ball.  The striker sprinted through and slid the ball under the legs of the stranded Fettis.

After that Bishop was inspired and had chance after chance to grab another but only equally inspired keeping and defending kept him out.

York started the stronger in the second half against the 10 man Harriers and it was down to Hinton to come to the rescue on two occasions early on.  First he got in the way of a shot from Edmondson and then he managed to clear a header off the line from Duffield.

Soon after John Melligan went close for us but he couldn't quite get enough power on his shot to cause any trouble for Fettis.

Then came the goal that should have been but wasn't.

The Reds had been awarded a corner and from Melligan's kick Lee Ayres powered in a header.  The York defence jumped for it along with Fettis but it was Parkin who headed it from under the bar.

A good 12 inches under.

Dean Bennett had a good chance to fire Harriers ahead but he fired straight at the keeper instead of passing it on to the better placed Bishop on his right.

York made a double substitution just after when Fox and Cowan came on for Brackstone and Hobson and within minutes Cowan had been booked for a foul on Bishop.

The ref was now starting to have fun with his whistle and had decided to blow it when ever he could.  He booked Bishop for kicking the ball towards the goal after blowing for offside a milli-second earlier and then he gave an offside decision against Mells even though he was stood on the half way line.

Against the run of play York took the lead again.

In another defensive mix up Lee Ayres should have played the ball to safety but instead chose to let the ball through to the in rushing Nogan who flicked it over the head of Brock who was left to pick the ball out of the empty net.

The ref carried on booking regardless.  Two for York and on for us; Reddy, Fox and Coleman.

It ended up as another frustrating game for the fans.  The first half was again a disappointment with passes going astray and a lack of discipline in the defence throughout the game.

After being told by Brit in mid week that this would have to change it appears that there was no one at home when he told them.

There seems to be no one at home in the Broughton household either!