Curse of Barrow goal ace Wayne Curtis see York City slide out of Setanta Shield

Curtis, who bagged a brace for Morecambe to defeat the Minstermen in 2007’s Conference play-off semi-finals, struck twice again in last night’s 3-1 victory, having signed on loan for the Cumbrians.

City trailed 2-0 at the break, but were thrown a second-half lifeline when Simon Russell scored his first goal for the club direct from a corner.

Curtis’ second of the night on 83 minutes, though, booked Barrow a northern area semi-final home meeting with Southport.

Foyle recalled Onome Sodje, Russell and Ben Wilkinson to the starting line-up with Richard Brodie, Christian Smith and Simon Brown all cup-tied.

City had the first chance of the evening when Wilkinson’s second-minute shot sailed wide from 30 yards.

Seconds later, Curtis sliced wide from a similar distance at the other end.

On ten minutes, Andy McWilliams’ firm 25-yard strike was pushed around his left-hand post by home ’keeper Tim Deasy and Danny Parslow then sent a glancing header wide from Russell’s inswinging, right-footed cross.

Michael Ingham made an excellent save on 23 minutes when an unmarked Matt Henney met left-back Carlos Logan’s cross to the far post.

A minute later, though, City fell behind when Curtis received a Nat Kerr pass into the box with his back to goal before turning Darren Kelly too easily and finding Ingham’s bottom right-hand corner from 15 yards with a low drive.

Seconds later, Ingham dropped 41-year-old Darren Sheridan’s corner, but was saved embarrassment by Kelly’s goalline clearance after a scramble in the visitors’ six-yard box.

On 37 minutes, Mark Greaves headed over after a Russell corner to the near post, but Mark Boyd fired narrowly wide from 35 yards before the Cumbrians netted for the second time.

Henney’s cross sailed over the City defence and found Brown lurking at the far post.

His low shot then surprisingly beat Ingham at his near post after skidding off a greasy surface.

Logan almost added a third on the stroke of half-time, ghosting past Russell before seeing his curling 20-yard effort bend just wide.

A tame Sodje attempt found the sidenetting two minutes after the break and Russell’s 25-yard shot only required a routine save from Deasy moments later.

Curtis sliced over from the edge of the box on 54 minutes for Barrow after good work down the right by Henney.

City boss Foyle, who had introduced Adam Boyes at the break, sent on Liam Shepherd and Craig Farrell midway through the second half in search of an improvement, but Jason Walker shot narrowly wide from 20 yards shortly afterwards.

Teenager Boyes missed a chance to open his account for City when he dragged across the face of goal after being sent clear down the right channel by Greaves.

The Minstermen reduced the arrears on 78 minutes when Russell’s inswinging corner from the left wing curled into Deasy’s top left-hand corner with the Cumbrians’ ’keeper under pressure in the air from Parslow.

But Barrow made the tie safe five minutes later when McGill’s cross saw Brown beat Kyle Critchell in the air and his looping header was clawed out from under the bar by a backtracking Ingham only to gift a chance to Curtis, who blasted in from three yards.

Boyd also hit a post in the 90th minute with a low drive from the edge of the box.

Match facts

Barrow 3 (Curtis 23, 83), York City 1 (Brown 40)

City: Michael Ingham 5, Kyle Critchell 5, Darren Kelly 5, Danny Parslow 6, Mark Robinson 6, Simon Russell 6, Mark Greaves 5, Ben Wilkinson 5, Andy McWilliams 6, Onome Sodje 5, Daniel McBreen 5.

Substitutions: Adam Boyes (for McBreen, 46) 5, Craig Farrell (for Wilkinson, 65) 5, Liam Shepherd (for Sodje, 65) 6.

Subs not used: Mimms, Rusk.

Key: 10 – Faultless; 9 – Outstanding; 8 – Excellent; 7 – Good; 6 – Average; 5 – Below par; 4 – Poor; 3 – Dud; 2 – Hopeless; 1 – Retire.

City’s star man: Robinson – did little wrong and kept going until the final whistle.

Barrow: Tim Deasy, Nat Kerr, Marcus Holness, Paul Jones, Carlos Logan, Matt Henney (Brendan McGill, 68), Darren Sheridan, Mark Boyd, Paul Brown, Wayne Curtis (Paul Tait, 90), Jason Walker (Nick Rogan, 87).

Subs (not used): Dave Bayliss, Luke Sharry.

Yellow cards: McBreen 29, Rogan 90.

Shots on target: Barrow 8, York 3

Shots off target: Barrow 4, York 4

Corners: Barrow 7, York 5

Fouls conceded: Barrow 19, York 16

Offsides: Barrow 5, York 1

Referee: Jake Collin (Liverpool). Rating: liked giving lectures, but generally reasonable.

Attendance: 596.

Shot of the match: Curtis’ first strike to open the scoring.

Save of the match: Ingham’s first-half save to keep out Henney’s header.

Mistake of the match: Ingham being beaten at his near post for Barrow’s second goal.

City player watch: Simon Russell

Goal attempts on target: 2

Goal attempts off target: 0

Blocked goal attempts: 0

Passes to own player: 15

Passes to opposition: 5

Crosses to own player: 2

Crosses to opposition: 4

Pass completion rate: 65.4 per cent

Dribbles ball retained: 4

Dribbles ball lost: 2

Dribble completion rate: 66.7 per cent

Headers: 4

Tackles: 2

Clearances, blocks and interceptions: 0

Fouls won: 0

Fouls conceded: 0

Offsides: 0

Yellow cards: 0

Final summary: Russell started brightly for the Minstermen before fading, only to score his first goal for City from a corner.

He was therefore responsible for two of City’s three on-target efforts and his crossing both from dead balls and general play was fairly dangerous.

Could perhaps have committed his marker more times, as is demonstrated by his failure to provoke a single foul.