IT'S A HOGG'S LIFE: City Of York's Gawaine Hogg finds his effort blocked by Ben Rhydding keeper Jamie Baughan during the Ilkley side's 3-2 away success

A superb 3-2 away victory over table-toppers Sheffield II lifted City of York II into third place in the Northern Counties East division two.

Against a Sheffield side fancied to do well York mapped out their own promotion credentials and, after a steady start where they were content to soak up early Sheffield pressure, they gained the lead when Simon Leather's strike across the face of goal was deflected into the net by a defender whose touch looped over the top of his own keeper.

Sheffield managed to counter when City failed to pick up a midfielder coming through from deep allowing him to grab an equaliser, but with Nick Carter and Chris Allerton impressing, York got back on top and they went into the interval two goals to the good with Alex Fletcher scoring both.

Early in the second half Sheffield cut the lead with a breakaway goal and though City remained on top they failed to make their task easier as they spurned a string of one-on-one chances which brought out the best in the home keeper.

They looked to have scored a fourth when a Nick Carter strike from a short corner hit the net but the goal was disallowed as the deflected shot was higher than the backboard.

However, it was enough for victory and they now trail leaders Sheffield and second placed Durham University by two points but have a game in hand.

There was no such luck for City Of York I who needed a good home win against Ben Rhydding to lift them to mid-table in the premier division, instead a 3-2 defeat leaves them with work to do.

York's slow start did them no favours and they slipped behind to a deflected shot from a free hit and then a scrambled effort that saw the umpire judge that the ball had crossed the York goalline after being half saved.

It was only after this controversial call that City woke up and they were rewarded for their efforts as Glyn Humphrey scored to cut the deficit, netting with a fine shot after James Gilbert had been unlucky not to convert from a Chris Dutton cross.

City began to take control and maintained their momentum into the second half and duly pulled level when Mark Little improvised at a short corner and after a neat run had taken him through three defenders he squared the ball for Gawaine Hogg to score.

From then on it became an open encounter as both sides sought the decisive goal and 15 minutes from time Rhydding gained the upper hand when they drilled home a short corner.

The Ilkley side then attempted to close the game down and it led to the contest becoming a touch fraught and resulted in a Rhydding player being sent off but even with a man advantage City could not find their way through.

City Of York III turned on the style and scored an impressive 6-0 victory over Doncaster IV with Matthew Todd notching a hat-trick.

Doncaster actually were the more effective side in the early stages and keeper Dave Birkenshaw made a couple of important saves before City stamped their authority on the game with James Mackay, Todd and Mark Dransfield all scoring before half-time.

City then went off the boil and it was only in the final ten minutes that they looked dangerous again with Mackay and two Todd goals completing the rout.

City Of York IV played a friendly match against the club's sixth string and only just came through 2-1 winners.

The sixths fielded last year's first team skipper Roz Ramli and were aided by a fine performance from Laurie Skinner who marked hotshot David Lancaster out of the game.

They took the lead with Ramli firing in from a short corner but after a string of short corners the fourths hit back when a neat routine saw the ball routed to Andy Kay who made the most of the time and space he had to equalise.

Victory was sealed when a break down the right ended with the resultant cross only being half cleared and Matt Pickering powered the loose ball home.

City Of York V saw their woeful start to the New Year continue as they were hammered 7-0 by Old Malton I in division five of the Yorkshire League.

Bottom club City were always up against it as they faced the divisional leaders but looked to be going well as they defended tightly to frustrate their rivals.

However, once the defence was breached the goals flooded in and despite the efforts of Fez Abbas to try and turn the tide City suffered.

There was a good performance from City Of York VII who notched an impressive 3-0 win over Normanby Park IV.

They took the lead after just 25 seconds with Andy Dent latching on to a Tim Jolly through ball to score and two minutes later Dent added his second.

As Phil Lancaster snuffed out the threat of Park's striker, City took control but their only other goal came after 20 minutes when Tim Senior found the net.

City Of York VIII notched a fine 4-2 away win at Harrogate VI, gaining the lead from a Julian Bellerby strike from a short corner.

It gave them the confidence to take the game to their rivals and a superb solo run from halfway brought Paddy Johnson the second goal and he went on to complete a hat-trick with City's third following a fine team move that involved Bellerby, Malcolm Dutton and Roger Jackson.

Harrogate hit back with two late goals but York were comfortable winners.

In the quarter-finals of the RAF Youth Careers Cup City Of York under-14 boys made heavy work of gaining a 2-0 win over Wakefield's Queen Elizabeth Grammar School.

Goals from Luke Ramli and Richard Jenkin secured a place in the last four.

Burden strike is decisive

Acomb Ladies made a winning return to league action as they scored a hard earned 1-0 victory over Owls.

Early raids by Kerry Rafton and Sally Kelsey caused the Owls defence plenty of problems and the deadlock was broken late in the first half when a penalty corner saw skipper Vicky Burden hit a fierce shot into the Owls goal.

In the second half Acomb looked to build on their lead, but as the game wore on Owls began to get into the game.

They finished strongly with Acomb keeper Kirsty Cooper having to save a penalty flick and then withstand a barrage of shots in a frantic last five minutes.

In the Costcutter Ladies League Dunnington went down 3-2 to York Olympics.

Olympics raced into a two goal lead before Elaine Patterson hit back before half-time.

Olympics added to their lead before newcomer Kath Clarke scored a deserved goal.

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