York City 2, Canvey Island 1

Fortune has favoured City on so few occasions in recent times but the 2-1 victory over part-timers Canvey Island was barely warranted.

The Minstermen's supporters will now be hoping the theory that every successful team possesses the ability to claim victory despite performing badly is more than just a cliche.

Manager Billy McEwan is certainly not a subscriber to that fabled philosophy and recognised that his team cannot afford too many similar displays this season if they are to stay among the Conference promotion pack.

The home side were literally given a head start and a helping hand in their lame bid for maximum points by a Canvey team, whose determination deserved a draw from the encounter.

First, substitute Stuart Bimson's bald pate deflected Mark Convery's free-kick past Canvey goalkeeper Richard McKinney to break the deadlock 12 minutes from time.

Then, after Jason Hallett had levelled for the visitors, the hapless McKinney made a complete hash of a routine catch from Clayton Donaldson's tame cross and Andy Bishop grabbed an unlikely winning goal for the visitors.

Prior to that fortuitous finale, City had looked far from convincing and struggled to reproduce the free-flowing football that has typified the majority of their home games this season.

Strikers Donaldson, Bishop and Joe O'Neill were all below par, while Convery was quiet, especially in the second half when an injury to Emmanuel Panther saw him operate with more discipline and less freedom in the Minstermen's midfield.

At the opposite end of the pitch, James Dudgeon and David McGurk were reunited in the centre of defence after captain Mark Hotte exited the action on 33 minutes because of a fractured shoulder.

The pair were two of City's better players, shackling dangerous strikers Lee Boylan and Keize Ibe well but substitute Hallett later breached the home back line twice, scoring on the second occasion.

Ibe could also have netted a second equaliser as the Minstermen almost conspired once more to turn three points into one during stoppage-time.

But, in general, the home team defended more capably than they attacked.

An uneventful first half saw Canvey defender Dominic Sterling go closest to scoring for City when he headed narrowly wide of his own goal from a Darren Dunning corner.

Donaldson also tried his luck with an athletic, improvised volley that bounced wide from 25 yards but Bishop missed the best chance of the half on 41 minutes, glancing a header wide from five yards when he only needed to use the pace of Dunning's perfectly-delivered cross to beat McKinney.

Canvey were restricted to two first half goal attempts with Dwain Clarke's free-kick comfortably saved by Chris Porter and Mario Noto firing wide from 20 yards.

Donaldson went close soon after the restart before Canvey started to show a little more attacking intent midway through the second half.

Porter reacted well to prevent Hallett's low drive squeezing inside his left-hand post and then made an acrobatic save to tip Ibe's attempted lob over the bar.

But City took a 78th-minute lead when Donaldson was fouled by Chris Duffy.

Convery whipped in a dangerous free-kick that flicked off Bimson's head before it hit the back of the net.

Donaldson, chasing a club record of scoring in seven successive games, also claimed a touch and later insisted "I'm a Christian, I don't lie" but it was Bimson who was credited with the divine intervention for City.

Just five minutes later, however, Canvey were level when Hallett raced on to fellow replacement Allan Tait's through ball and beat Porter with a confident rising finish.

But the visitors were denied a share of the spoils when McKinney dropped Donaldson's centre and Bishop fired in from eight yards.

Deep into injury time, Ibe then broke clear and a sense of the inevitable rather than deja-vu gripped KitKat Crescent as the Canvey striker rounded Porter only for a collective sigh of relief to be heaved when the covering Dudgeon was on hand to intercept his goalbound shot.

Match facts

York City 2 (Convery 78, Bishop 88)

Canvey Island 1 (Hallett 82)

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 7

Price 7

Hotte 6 (Dudgeon 33, 7)

McGurk 8

Merris 7 (Peat 70, 6)

Convery 6

Panther 7 (Stewart 48, 6)

Dunning 7

O'Neill 6

Bishop 6

Donaldson 6

Subs (not used): Stockdale, Palmer.

Star man: McGurk - dependable at the back.

Canvey Island: Richard McKinney, Ben Chenery, Steve Ward (Stuart Bimson, 71), Dominic Sterling, Chris Duffy, Mario Noto, Ben Sedgemore (Allan Tait, 82), Jeff Minton, Dwain Clarke, Kezie Ibe, Lee Boylan (Jason Hallett, 66). Subs not used: Danny Potter, Mitchell Lowes.

Yellow card: Convery 79

Referee: Andrew Page (Ilkeston).

Rating: Hit and miss.

Attendance: 3,070.

Weather watch: Mild and clam.

Game breaker: The moment Richard McKinney dropped Clayton Donaldson's weak cross.

Match rating: A poor match in which City struggled to reproduce their best form and Canvey deserved a point for a determined display.

McEwan's verdict: "I was disappointed with the way we conceded and we never created many chances especially in the first half but you have to give the opposition a bit of credit. They are well-organised and difficult to break down and I can see why they were on a six-game unbeaten run."

Player watch: Jamie Price

Shots on target: 0

Shots off target: 0

Blocked shots: 0

Passes to own player: 19

Passes to opposition: 3

Crosses to own player: 0

Crosses to opposition: 1

Pass success rate: 82.6 per cent

Dribbles ball retained: 0

Dribbles ball lost: 1

Dribble success rate: 0 per cent

Headers: 14

Tackles: 7

Clearances, blocks and interceptions: 9

Free-kicks won: 0

Free-kicks conceded: 0

Offside: 0

Bookings: 0

Final summary: Jamie Price was a solid performer at right-back, making a healthy seven tackles. He did well aerially, winning 14 headers despite his lack of height and his distribution was reliable, hitting only three stray passes in the match. Did not get forward much, however, and his one cross was from a free-kick.

Updated: 11:04 Monday, October 17, 2005