City of York I suffered a major blow to their hopes of survival in the Northern Counties Hockey League premier division with a 4-0 defeat at Sheffield I.

York had beaten Sheffield earlier in the season but their under-strength side could not match the South Yorkshire outfit's sharpness in front of goal.

York were immediately on the back foot but repelled a series of short corners and managed to engineer a breakaway attack between Gawaine Hogg and Rob Hines which ended with Hogg's shot being well saved.

But soon afterwards Hogg was injured and Sheffield cashed in on their extra man with a couple of goals from short corners - the second going in off a defender on the line after James Riley had made a good save in the York goal.

York pushed forward and Hines had a shot saved but a minute after the interval Sheffield extended their lead and with York pushing up they conceded a fourth.

City of York II had little difficulty beating a negative Sheffield II side in North East Two with two second half goals.

York altered their formation at the interval by pushing a midfielder forward to attack and it paid off.

Sheffield's stubborn resistance was broken when Mark Little intercepted a pass in midfield feeding Phil Clarke to score.

Inter-passing by Chris Allerton and Nick Carter put the Sheffield sweeper under pressure and Clarke made it 2-0.

Yorkshire League division four leaders Sheffield Bankers V were stretched early on by City of York III before winning 3-0.

Play was even until Bankers scored ten minutes before half-time with a fluke deflection.

York continued to press and missed a string of chances. Eventually their play became disjointed and a home victory was assured when a forward poked the ball through Martyn Parrott's pads.

A third Bankers' goal made it a harsh scoreline for York, who are going through a bad patch after a great start to the season.

David Lancaster netted a hat-trick as City of York IV beat a game Old Malton I 4-2 in division five.

York put on a great display of fast, attacking hockey in the opening 25 minutes with Lancaster opening the scoring, only for Malton to level.

Pat Birch's spectacular reverse stick chip made it 2-1 but Malton hit back to equalise before half-time.

The scores remained level until the last ten minutes when Lancaster struck twice to seal victory.

Roz Ramli outscored Lancaster when he found the back of Hallam University II's net four times in City of York V's easy 7-1 division seven win.

It was a stroll for York against a depleted students' side with Eric Folliot (2) and Richard Jenkin also scoring.

City of York VI found themselves without a game for the third week running when Hull University were unable to fulfil their division seven fixture.

Honours were even as City of York VII and Zeneca I shared six goals, Neil Reeder scoring a hat-trick for York.

York were 2-0 down before Reeder netted after Clive Appleyard's penalty flick was saved. Reeder put York level before Zeneca made it 3-2.

Reeder completed his treble but York missed a great chance to clinch victory when the Zeneca's 'keeper was sent off for an offence outside the circle soon afterwards.

Russell Grant was York VIII's scorer in their 2-1 defeat at Doncaster VI in a game in which York failed to turn possession into goals.

City of York's junior section's fixtures were disrupted by the weather, but the Under 16 boys 'A' beat Scarborough 2-0 (Alex Cockram and Tom Durham) and Brigg 3-0 (James Owen 2 and Oliver Couttie).

They were awarded a walkover in their final game against Airedale and are bow top of the regional league.

Updated: 11:59 Tuesday, February 06, 2001