CITY of York men's hockey team endured a disappointing draw against Rotherham in a North League premier division game they could and should have won.

Injuries and unavailability stripped York down to the bare 11 and the fact they were under-strength was almost illustrated early on when Rotherham broke through but missed an open goal.

York steadied the ship, though, and took the lead when Ben Foster put a reverse stick shot high into the roof of the net.

Ashley Watson in the York goal was in top form to deny the heavy-numbered attacks of Rotherham while York pushed on the counter-attack to extend their lead.

Luke Ramli, an out-of-position defender, slotted into the midfield and almost hit a second but Rotherham thwarted the effort and capitalised on a rare Matt Couttie error to equalise moments later.

York's Alex Cockram had a perfect chance to put York back in front when he rounded the Rotherham 'keeper, only to push the ball wide forcing City to be satisfied with the 1-1 draw.

Controversy ruled in City of York II's 1-0 defeat at Slazengers I when the home side's only strike of the game against the run of play gleaned them maximum points.

York had a chance to get back into the game with a claim for a second-half penalty stroke but with one umpire blind to the incident, the opportunity was snatched away.

Martin Parrott in the York goal made several fine saves as his side pushed forward but, despite a string of short corners, York could not get the ball in the net.

City of York III came unstuck at the hands of York University I to the tune of 7-1.

Six regulars were missing for the match that had originally been scheduled for New Year's Day, leaving several IV team players to fill in.

York contained the students for 30 minutes but the deadlock was broken with a quick double while Dave Rowlands received treatment.

Two more goals took the game beyond York at the start of the second half despite Mark Dransfield pulling one back, with three late Uni strikes emphasising the students' superiority.

Richard Cockram put City of York V ahead at Sheffield Hallam V and a sweeping breakaway from the defence culminated in an exquisite Graham McFaul pass for Steve Patterson to make it 2-0.

Under-strength Grimsby II came a cropper at the hands of City of York VII, who got revenge for a 9-3 mauling earlier in the season as Richard Tanner-Smith blasted five in a 9-1 victory.

Within five minutes, City were 2-1 up following two Tanner-Smith short corners and a goal from Grimsby's one good player in reply.

Grimsby pulled back their goalscorer to the heart of the defence in the second half and York ran wild. Debutant Johnny Brooks, Andy Stannard and Steve Archer (2) were all on target with Tanner-Smith bagging three more.

City IV, VI and VIII were all without fixtures.

Updated: 10:23 Tuesday, February 15, 2005