SKIPPER Glyn Humphrey scored a hat-trick as York stormed back to winning ways with a convincing 5-1 victory over Springfield in their Northern Premier League division two clash.

It was sweet revenge for York, who were beaten at Springfields earlier in the season.

Humphrey put York 2-0 up in the opening 20 minutes after fine work by Simon Tibble and Graham Cook and never looked back.

Paul Sanguin added a third from a short corner won by Tibble and although Springfields forced York back in the second half, the home side broke quickly down the left and after good approach play by Chris Dutton, Alex Fletcher squeezed in the fourth goal from a tight angle.

York began to ease up and Springfields scored the goal their efforts deserves, but fittingly York had the last word five minutes from the end when Tibble got behind the Springfield defence once more and squared for Humphrey to tap-in his hat-trick goal.

Humphrey said: "We needed a good performance this week to bounce back from last weekend's result. The work-rate was phenomenal and we are on target to peak just as the season ends."

York Trojans cruised to a 2-0 NPL division two win over Halifax with goals by Mark Little and James Flint after dominating from start to finish.

Trojans II beat Hull YPI 3-1 in their Yorkshire League division three game with 18-year-old goalkeeper Matthew Merrick fully justifying his elevation from the fourth team with a brilliant display.

Veteran Sam Blackburn, who scored with a flick, control the midfield for Trojans, whose other goals came from Page and Laike.

Trojans III's 4-3 defeat against Scarborough prevented them from going top of division five, although with two games in hand are still confident of moving up.

Two missed flicks summed up the general lethargy in Trojans' below-par display.

In the same division, York II travelled to middle-of-the-table Rotherham and went down 4-2 despite producing one of their most assured displays of the season.

Mike Couttie, back after injury, and newcomer John Ryan shone for York, who hit back from a goal down to lead 2-1 with goals by Neil Reader, who tickled in John Ryan's goal-bound strike, and Robin Gordon.

Rotherham levelled with a swift counter-attack and although York continued to press Rotherham finished 4-2 winners - a scoreline which did little to reflect York's overall control.

York III continue to suffer from the lack of experienced players and lost 7-0 against Brigg, mainly to breakaway goals.

Trojans V led Adel 1-0 for most of the game in division five thanks to Habergham's superb strike, but Adele equalised and clinched victory from a short corner.

Determined Acomb, unbeaten in the third division of the Yorkshire league, won 2-0 at third-placed Sheffield Bankers III.

After Sheffield started well, Acomb went close through Jon Cooper and Nick Linfoot before Jamie Robinson fired wide after a short corner.

The breakthrough came midway through the first half when Peter Hilton turned in a short corner, but Acomb needed to defend well to keep Sheffield at bay.

Fifteen minutes from the end, Robinson picked the ball up on the right and his cross was turned in by Cooper.

Acomb were reduced to nine men for the last 10 minutes but Sheffield were unable to find a way past Acomb's defence.

Acomb II conceded an early goal to Normanby Park and finished up defeated 6-3. Adrian Nye, Mark Sadler and Mike Brown netted for Acomb.

Acomb III also made a poor start at Sheffield Bankers V where they were 2-0 down after 10 minutes and eventually lost 4-1, Gavin Dickinson scoring Acomb's effort from a short corner.

York IV clocked up their third straight win in division three with a 3-0 win at Hull - all the goals coming in the second half through Andrew Dent, Richard Tanner-Smith and David Fieldhouse.

York, who had a penalty saved in the first half, almost added another goal when Malcolm Dutton's shot hit a post and rolled along the goal-line before being cleared. Fieldhouse and Joel Johnson were York's outstanding players in a strong all-round performance.

Despite having much of the play, York V lost 2-0 against Sheffield, who capitalised on their only real opportunities.

A series of defensive errors led to Sheffield's first goal and a deflection from a defender's stick left York 'keeper David Stelmach wrong-footed. Matthew Couttie was outstanding for York.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.