York City 0, Crawley 0

Porter was one of the few sportsmen less active than England and Australia's sheltering cricketers on Saturday as the Minstermen kicked off their Conference campaign with a goal-less draw against Crawley Town.

His opposite number Phil Smith was only marginally busier, waiting 84 minutes before being required to make his first stop, comfortably gathering Andy Bishop's tame 20-yard effort.

He then tipped over a speculative Clayton Donaldson strike as the match entered six minutes of stoppage time.

There were extenuating circumstances for City's lack of firepower with Joe O'Neill suspended, Bishop only fit enough to play as a second-half substitute and Darren Mansaram finding his feet after being thrown straight into the starting line up following his loan move from Halifax Town.

Donaldson was also given a bruising re-introduction to Conference football from uncompromising Crawley centre-backs Ian Simpemba and David Woozley.

Mansaram went closest to winning the match when his smart shot on the turn across the face of goal struck the base of Smith's post on 26 minutes.

Crawley might be fancied by bookmakers for a play-off place this season after being taken over by a £2million consortium of nightclub and bar owners but, on this evidence, the Broadfield Ground will not be the place for champagne football this season.

The Sussex club, despite turning full-time this week, struggled to match City's fitness levels and Billy McEwan's men would have secured victory with a greater cutting edge in the final third of the pitch.

A few nerves also appeared to hinder the Minstermen's ability to reproduce the fast-moving, fluid football that they produced during the last pre-season outing against Sheffield Wednesday.

But, in a team containing nine summer signings and captained by 26-year-old senior citizen Mark Hotte, that was perhaps understandable.

In defence, David McGurk made an excellent start to his second loan spell as a Minsterman, proving dominant aerially and executing a firm and crowd-pleasing tackle on Danny Ekoku just seconds after the former KitKat Crescent trialist, who defected to Crawley on in the week of the match, had received a pantomime villain's reception from home fans following his arrival as a second-half substitute.

Earlier, however, the David Longhurst Stand fans could have been forgiven for screaming "He's Behind You" when former Scarborough striker Steve Burton escaped the attentions of Hotte and beat Porter to a through ball from Lee Elam but saw his effort bounce wide of goal.

Seconds earlier, midfielder Simon Wormull had blazed his team's only other shot out of the stadium from 30 yards.

Busy and productive midfield schemer Mark Convery went closest to winning the match for City after the break.

First, the 5ft 6in debutant headed narrowly wide from a Nathan Peat cross, then he curled a free kick narrowly wide of the top corner.

Finally, and most agonisingly, Convery failed to convert from three yards on 80 minutes when he shot over the bar at full stretch.

Match facts

York City 0, Crawley 0

City ratings

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

Porter 6

Price 7

McGurk 8

Hotte 7

Peat 7

Mallon 6 (Bishop 68m 6)

Panther 6

Convery 7

Dunning 6 (booked)

Mansaram 6 (Stewart 79m)

Donaldson 6

Subs (not used): Dudgeon, Merris, Afandiyev

Star man: McGurk - commanding in the air and rarely flustered.

Crawley Town: Smith, Judge, Woozley, Simpemba, Jenkins, Elam, Wormull, Brown (Blackburn, 62), Hodgson, Burton (Ekoku, 68), Cade (Douglas, 56). Subs: Ward, Blackburn, Giles.

Yellow cards: Simpemba 31, Dunning 43, Judge 62, Hodgson 65, Elam 69.

Referee: Michael Oliver (Ashington). Rating: Sensible display from 20-year-old official, who is the youngest on the national list.

Attendance: 2,276.

Weather watch: Drizzle cleared but cool conditions until it got brighter late on.

Game breaker: Had Darren Mansaram's shot hit the back of the net instead of the post City might have grown in confidence and not only won the game but won it comfortably.

Match rating: Lack of goalmouth action but City tried to play in an attractive manner.

McEwan's verdict: "It would have been nice to start with a win but we got a clean sheet and a point and controlled the game for long periods."

Player watch: Clayton Donaldson

Shots on target: 1

Shots off target: 0

Passes to own player: 13

Passes to opposition: 4

Crosses to own player: 0

Crosses to opposition: 0

Pass success rate: 76.5 per cent

Dribbles ball retained: 1 Dribbles ball lost: 9

Dribble success rate: 10 per cent

Fouls won: 6 Fouls conceded: 1 Headers: 3 Tackles: 2

Clearances, blocks and interceptions: 1

Bookings: 0

Final summary: Donaldson was given a tough City debut by Crawley, who fouled him six times during the match with two challenges receiving bookings. He will be disappointed that he only managed to dribble past a player once and lost his footing on the greasy pitch several times but he did manage to force Smith into the best of the game's two saves.

Updated: 11:08 Monday, August 15, 2005