TRIALIST David Brown and Craig Farrell both bagged braces as York City kicked off their pre-season campaign with a 6-0 victory at Tadcaster Albion.

Richard Brodie and Martyn Woolford also got on the scoresheet and the Minstermen might have won by a greater margin against their Northern Counties East League division one neighbours but for a fine second-half display by home goalkeeper Tom Ryder.

City boss Colin Walker gave everybody in his squad – bar Daniel McBreen – a run-out in the match, fielding two different 11s for both halves and also introducing teenagers Adam Boyce and Josh Radcliffe as late substitutes.

Walker played a 4-3-3 formation, though, throughout with David McGurk and Darren Kelly the centre-back partnership in the first period, and Mark Greaves and Danny Parslow occupying the same positions after the interval.

In attack, Brodie was flanked by trialists Brown and Nathan Fisher before Farrell occupied the central role during the second half with Onome Sodje and Liam Shepherd out wide.

Midfielders Steven Hogg and Niall Henderson, meanwhile, started their first games for City with fellow new boys Ben Wilkinson and Michael Ingham joining Greaves on the pitch after the break.

Australian striker McBreen watched from the sidelines as he continues his recuperation from a minor knee operation.

Former Middlesbrough trainee Fisher sidefooted wide from eight yards after a strong raid down the left by Brodie on seven minutes and Brown lobbed over from an acute angle shortly afterwards.

City opened the scoring on ten minutes when Brodie’s 25-yard drive smacked ex-Bradford City striker Brown on the head and spun into the deceived Ryder’s bottom right-hand corner.

Kelly found the sidenetting with a header after Mark Robinson’s cross on 18 minutes and Brown then carved out another opportunity for Fisher, only for his fellow trialist to lift the ball well over from 12 yards.

York-born Brown, playing constantly on the shoulder of the last Tadcster defender, netted his second goal of the night in less fortuitous fashion, breaking the offside trap to collect a long Kelly ball and calmly chip the ball over an advancing Ryder.

Fisher’s finishing, though, continued to be wayward as he found the Ings Lane car park with a 37th-minute effort. Seconds later, Ryder palmed a 20-yard shot from City right-back Jimmy Beadle around his post but Brodie, on his 21st birthday, extended the visitors’ lead on 40 minutes.

Ryder had second thoughts about confronting the 6ft 3in striker as he looked to latch on to a powerful header out of defence by Kelly, leaving Brodie with a routine finish.

City left-back Robinson also went close with a spectacular overhead kick before Walker rang the changes at half-time.

Farrell scored his first goal four minutes after the break, producing a composed finish after being put clear on goal by a precise Simon Rusk pass.

A Parslow effort was saved at his near post by Ryder, but he was beaten again on 61 minutes when Woolford rifled in from 12 yards.

The Tadcaster ’keeper then produced smart saves to deny Woolford twice in quick succession and was saved by a post when Farrell tried his luck from 25 yards.

Wilkinson also went close from distance before Sodje struck the same upright when sent clear by Farrell, who added the sixth on 85 minutes when he dispossessed a defender before rounding Ryder and rolling the ball into an inviting net.

At the other end, Ingham touched the ball for the first – and only – time of the evening following Tadcaster’s only on-target effort after 88 minutes.

Ex-City striker Ian Blackstone, who turns 44 next month, had entered the fray for the home team by that stage but, aside from a strong clash with Greaves, did little to unsettle his former club.


City first-half: Mimms, Beadle, Kelly, McGurk, Robinson, Foster, Henderson, Hogg, Brown, Brodie, Fisher.

City second-half: Ingham, Purkiss, Greaves (Radcliffe, 88), Parslow, McWilliams, Wilkinson, Rusk, Woolford, Sodje, Farrell (Boyes, 88), Shepherd.