York City 0, Stevenage 1

Bare-faced because his Stevenage side had taken every opportunity to waste time after taking a 21st-minute lead with their only on-target goal attempt of the match and, unnecessary, because York City, on the evidence of their second half performance, would have struggled to score a goal if referee Colin Harwood had allowed play to continue until midnight.

The Minstermen managed just one shot in the whole second period - a weak Andy Bishop effort in the opening 30 seconds - as Stevenage handed Billy McEwan's young, inexperienced team a lesson in gamesmanship, sometimes mistaken for professionalism in football, and the age-old art of shutting up shop.

Defending slender leads has proved problematic for City this season but their Hertfordshire visitors made it look easy last night and, as a spectacle, the game deteriorated rapidly from the moment Stevenage went in front.

A frustrated City team lacked the attacking guile and confidence thereafter to break down their stubborn visitors, whose gameplan had been revealed earlier by the composition of their starting line up.

Westley fielded four recognised centre-halves in his side with former City defender Matt Hocking playing at right-back and captain Rob Quinn operating as a midfield shield in front of the back four.

Prior to the game, a point was probably the height of Stevenage's ambitions, having won just two Conference games on their travels this season and playing a City team who had only previously been beaten at home by Burton Albion.

Last season's play-off finalists collected all three points, however, by defending sensibly and resorting to a number of delaying tactics after Jefferson Louis' header broke the deadlock but also killed the match.

Great deliberation was taken over almost every subsequent Stevenage throw-in and goal kick while an arthritic great grand-parent would have surely exited the action quicker than Louis and Nurse when the visiting strikers were both substituted late in the game.

Referee Harwood was wise to Borough's antics, as his addition of five extra minutes illustrated, but City never looked like taking advantage.

Emmanuel Panther, often the starting point for City's attacking raids, was crowded out in midfield and struggled to make an impact on the match while the front three of Bishop, Clayton Donaldson and Joe O'Neill, after a bright opening, lacked the intelligent movement needed to unsettle the visitors' defence.

All three strikers had earlier been involved in an intricate, second-minute move that sent Bishop clear on goal.

But the Minstermen's top scorer, who could have carried the ball further forward before shooting, went for placement rather than power and his sidefooted effort got stuck in mud short of the goal-line and O'Neill - now without a goal in 16 matches - could not force the ball home at the far post.

Nurse then shot wide across the face of goal on 11 minutes in a rare foray forward for the visitors before Louis opened the scoring.

The former Oxford and Bristol Rovers striker sent a downward header under the body of City goalkeeper Chris Porter from Dannie Bulman's excellent right-wing cross after Panther had dallied and lost possession in midfield.

McEwan's men responded with an off-target O'Neill effort from 20 yards, a tame Darren Dunning free-kick that only just reached visiting 'keeper Alan Julian and a glancing Mark Hotte header that bounced wide of goal.

Bishop's weak sidefooted effort from six yards after a Lee Andrews cross seconds after the restart would prove City's last sight of Julian's goal.

Satisfied Stevenage saw no need to be over-adventurous in a poor second half that would only muster two more shots of any description.

Bulman's powerful 20-yard volley whistled narrowly wide but George Boyd's wayward 83rd-minute effort was more in keeping with the attacking quality demonstrated by both sides.

That will matter little to Stevenage today, who now lie third in the Conference.

Victory for the Minstermen would have lifted them a point above last night's visitors but defeat means they are, instead, five adrift of the well-fancied, play-off contenders.

York City 0, Stevenage 1 (Louis 21)

Porter 6, Andrews 7, Dudgeon 7, Hotte 7, Merris 7, Convery 6, Panther 6, Dunning 6, Bishop 6, O'Neill 6 (Bertos 74), Donaldson 6

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

Subs (not used): Stockdale, Yalcin, Stewart

Star man: Merris - a typically gutsy display

Stevenage: Julian, Hocking, Henry, Laker, Perpetuini, Bulman, Quinn, Maamria, Boyd, Louis, Nurse. Subs not used: Warner, Williams, Berquez, Stamp, Gore.

Yellow cards: Maamria 42, Hotte 55, Henry 66, Laker 79.

Referee: Colin Harwood (Greater Manchester) Rating: could perhaps have been firmer in face of Stevenage gamesmanship.

Attendance: 2,325.

Weather watch: Dry with a breeze but not too chilly.

Game breaker: The outcome would probably have been different had Andy Bishop taken his second-minute chance.

Match rating: Poor entertainment with one team unable to score against a side uninterested in scoring after they had found the net once.

McEwan's verdict: "I'm very frustrated because we created numerous good situations in the game to score a goal but we lived to regret it when we got done by their only on-target effort of the whole match."

Player watch

Darren Dunning

Shots on target: 1

Shots off target: 0

Blocked shots: 0

Passes to own player: 20

Passes to opposition: 4

Crosses to own player: 0

Crosses to opposition: 1

Pass success rate: 80 per cent

Dribbles ball retained: 2

Dribbles ball lost: 2

Dribbles success rate: 50 per cent

Headers: 13 Tackles: 9

Clearances, blocks and interceptions: 5 Offsides: 0

Free kicks won: 3

Free kicks conceded: 1

Yellow cards: 0

Final summary: Dunning managed one of City's two on-target efforts but his weak free-kick did not trouble Stevenage's goalkeeper. The midfielder was as honest and whole-hearted as ever, making nine tackles. His distribution was also reliable but only provided one cross and that came from a corner.

Updated: 10:56 Wednesday, January 11, 2006